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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30019632">Blood Red Rose</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersend/pseuds/wintersend'>wintersend</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the vampire story [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Period-Typical Racism, Slow Burn, Vampire Bites, it can be sexy but it can be traumatizing, we'll have both</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:27:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,735</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30019632</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersend/pseuds/wintersend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>1920, London. An unknown creature dubbed 'the Beast' is terrorizing the streets at night. Vampire hunter Jyn Erso and recently turned vampire Cassian Andor might just be the city's only hope to catch the monster...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassian Andor &amp; Leia Organa, Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the vampire story [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2242404</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>154</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>120</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Whoo, I can't believe it's here! I'm so excited to share this with you, I really had a lot of fun working on it so far. I have no idea how long it will be but in my rough outline, I ended up at 22 chapters, so we're in for a ride.</p><p>I was largely inspired by the video game <i>Vampyr</i> for the aesthetic and certain plot elements. The game is set in 1918 London, but I placed this story in 1920 to avoid having to deal with the Spanish Flu. I wouldn't want to touch that with a ten foot pole at the moment. That said, I'm certain this story isn't going to be 100%  accurate because my main goal was to write a fun sexy vampire story and not necessarily to get lost in historical details. So that's my disclaimer, if you're bothered by that sort of thing, this might not be the story for you.</p><p>Another disclaimer: as a non-native English speaker, the differences between American and British English are often lost on me. So again, bear with me there in terms of accuracy.</p><p>Huge thanks to Moira (fulcrumstardust) without who this story would literally not exist. Thanks for pushing me to write this and helping me figure out some plot details &lt;3</p><p>(PS.: This chapter does include the brutal murder of our beloved character. It's not graphic but I wanted to warn anyone who's sensitive to that.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>1920, London</strong>
</p><p>Cassian Andor died on a Friday.</p><p>It was as though the universe was out to get him. He’d been flirting with death all day, it seemed – almost ran over by an automobile early morning on his way to work, almost flattened by a falling beam on the construction site, almost knifed by an angry patron when he broke up a fight during his shift at the pub. Almost, almost, almost.</p><p>Almost but not quite.</p><p>Not until –</p><p>Well.</p><p>Cassian didn’t believe in fate or destiny. But he believed in instincts. He believed in common sense. And common sense told him that the man who was following him could only have nefarious intentions. Theft. Assault. Murder.</p><p>But his instincts told him it would be even worse than that.</p><p>He had no idea how right he would be.</p>
<hr/><p>Cassian Andor was born again on a Friday.</p><p>He awoke in a pool of his own blood, gasping on air forced back into his lungs, and so… so…</p><p>He wasn’t hungry.</p><p>He was ravenous.</p><p>
  <em>What happened to me, where was that man – no, not a man, a monster – where was – where am I – what</em>
</p><p>He remembered bits and pieces. Dark eyes. Pale skin. A cruel smile. Sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight – sharp like a wolf’s, not human, not possible.</p><p>He bit him. Cassian still remembered the distinct surprise he felt at that particular development. He <em>bit</em> him.</p><p>He sank his sharp teeth into Cassian’s neck and tore out a chunk of his skin like he was a human chew toy. Then he bit his own wrist and bled into Cassian’s open wound.</p><p>The rest was just. A blur. Pain. The gargling sounds he made as the beast bit him again and <em>sucked, </em>it seemed, on his blood. The thing’s claws – claws? – sinking into his back as it held him tightly. His own fading heartbeat. He could feel it, he could <em>hear </em>it.</p><p>He couldn’t even struggle, the beast was so strong. There was nothing to do but surrender, his hands going limp, his body sagging. Perhaps it lasted a minute or so, then it was over. He slipped under.</p><p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p><p>He died. Cassian was certain of that. He died. Because no one could survive that blood loss, and certainly not –</p><p>Certainly not with their wounds healing. But when he touched a hand to his neck, the injury was gone. Like it had never been there in the first place. The only sign that it had been real was his bloody fingertips when he pulled them away. Still fresh. It hadn’t been long then.</p><p>But he was alone now.</p><p>Cassian looked around, staggering to his feet. He was hungry. The streets felt different. Undoubtedly the same streets where he was attacked, but magnified, somehow. Sharper. The lamps were brighter, blinding. He could see dust particles flying around him. The noises… If he focused for a second, it was almost overwhelming. He could hear a baby crying, a couple arguing, drunken laughter from a pub, a woman calling out to someone in the dead of the night. Heartbeats. He could hear heartbeats. Steady, strong, inviting.</p><p>Pulling him towards the nearest source on instinct.</p><p>He could smell it too. Something sweet and syrupy and intoxicating. His hunger grew.</p><p>
  <em>What am I? What happened to me? I was dead, but now I’m not. I was hurt, but now I’m not. What am I?</em>
</p><p>Cassian Andor didn’t believe in magic or monsters. But he believed in instincts.</p><p>And his instincts were telling him that whatever his murderer was… it was exactly what he had become.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading, I'd love to hear what you thought! I'm planning to post the first chapter on Tuesday &lt;3 Until then, you can always find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. An Unexpected Proposal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jyn receives an unexpected invitation and makes a new acquaintance.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for the feedback on the prologue, I was so excited to see that people were intrigued!</p><p>Here's chapter one where the plot begins and I try to sprinkle in some worldbuilding as well. Enjoy &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>3 months later</strong>
</p><p>“What do you think?” Jyn asked her interlocutor, one hand wrapped tightly around her necklace. She fiddled with the white gold pendant in the shape of a cross as she stared out the window, her eyes unfocused, lost in thought. The gravity of the envelope on her desk practically burned a hole through the wood.</p><p>She barely heard Maia’s response. “Could be worth hearing them out.”</p><p>Jyn hummed. “Maybe.”</p><p>She looked back at the envelope, its edges torn open with her pocketknife. A formal invitation from Mon Mothma herself. Her handwriting was neat, slender, curving letters fitting for a royal. (Maybe she had been once. Who could ever know when it came to centuries-old vampires?) The letter was personally addressed to Jyn, delivered by hand through a (human) servant of Lady Mothma. But the bloodred seal at the bottom bearing the crest of the Alliance was what really sold its authority. It was all so ridiculously formal. Jyn almost felt like an important player in the grand game.</p><p>Her eyes quickly scanned the contents again.</p><p>
  <em>Dear Miss Erso,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I am writing to you on behalf of the vampire coalition you know as the Alliance.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As I’m sure you’re well aware, our city is facing a grave new threat. The vampire came to be known as ‘the Beast’ has ravaged countless innocents these past three weeks and seems to be in no hurry to stop. Human authorities have taken notice of the murders, and our allies in the Parliament are growing uneasy. We must avoid widespread hysteria, prevent more unnecessary loss of human life, and stop this menace at once.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I know what you must be thinking. But I can assure you, whoever is behind these murders, they are not one of us. No one in the Alliance would be capable of such heinous crimes, and we have already taken the necessary measures to rule out the possibility.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There’s only one solution remaining. We must put aside our differences and work together. I know we have the same goal in the matter: to save lives. I believe that with our joined forces, we could be successful. Our organizations have long co-existed without bloodshed and I see no reason for this to change that. I pray we can now find it in our hearts to take our accord a step further and discuss the possibility of cooperation. We’re living in dire times, indeed. We owe it to the people of London to protect them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I believe we have a common cause to rally against. If you would like to discuss the matter further, we invite you to a meeting on Thursday, at 11 pm, the Organa’s mansion. To ensure our goodwill, two members of the Guardians will also be present. I urge you to consider our offer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yours sincerely,<br/>
Countess of Mothma</em>
</p><p>Jyn couldn’t lie, the situation with the so-called “beast of London” was grave. The murders were brutal in a way that seemed cruel even for a vampire. She had seen some of the bodies, some of the crime scenes, and her stomach turned at the memory of all the blood and guts and body parts.</p><p>There was no mistaking it: the Beast was enjoying this, and they wanted to make a spectacle out of it. They wanted to garner attention.</p><p>To make matters worse, Jyn and her people had absolutely no leads.</p><p>It was as though the Beast was a phantom. Somehow always striking where they did not have men patrolling, always disappearing before anyone could get a look at them.</p><p>Whoever it was, they were no ordinary vampire. The creature had already killed seven people in the past three weeks, and the Partisans were powerless to stop it. It was the only reason she was considering Mothma’s offer.</p><p>Even still, she didn’t like the idea that they needed the Alliance to find the creature.</p><p>
  <em>Stronger together. Could it work?</em>
</p><p>As if sensing the direction her thoughts had taken, Maia said, “It’s not shameful to ask for help every once in a while.”</p><p>“<em>They</em> are asking for help,” Jyn pointed out. That was a very important distinction. Still… Maia had a point, theoretically. It was just harder for her to implement that in practice.</p><p>“Then it’s not shameful to offer help every once in a while,” Maia corrected.</p><p>Jyn stared at the letter, considering her options.</p><p>“The others won’t understand. They’d think I’m dallying with the enemy.”</p><p>Maia hummed. She didn’t have to say anything – <em>what the others don’t know won’t bother them.</em></p><p>Jyn made a decision.</p><p>“I’ll go,” she nodded. “I’ll hear them out. But I’m not promising anything yet.”</p>
<hr/><p>The Organa’s mansion was a grand elegant estate located in the heart of Westminster.</p><p>As Jyn stared up at the building, she pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders. She felt out of place in her modest clothing. Residents in this part of the city were all wealthy and influential, which usually meant one of three things: politicians, entrepreneurs, or vampires. The Organas fell into two of those categories, holding both the title of bloodsuckers and members of the Parliament. Even their daughter, the youngest of the family, was at least a couple of centuries old, while Bail, the head of the family, was among the oldest vampires in London, and his wife, Breha, was rumored to have been a queen once.</p><p>Jyn didn’t involve herself in politics very much, but she supposed they were, at least, the more tolerable kind. That said, as she walked up to the gates, feeling very much like she was standing at the edge of a precipice, she couldn’t help but feel apprehensive at the splendor of the mansion. There was history here, there was power. Ordinary people didn’t live like this.</p><p>With a deep inhale, she pushed the gates open. The courtyard was small but charming, the pathway leading to the stairs decorated with delicate red and purple flowers. A three-tiered fountain stood in the middle, although the water was still now. The topper was the head of a lion, its mouth open in a silent roar. As Jyn passed by, she felt like its eyes were following her. It was nothing but her own unease, but she picked up her steps nonetheless. The sooner she was out of here, the better.</p><p>Up the stairs and pausing at the grand doors. Jyn snorted at the heavy knockers: lions again. How very typical. At least, they were consistent. Squaring her shoulders, straightening her spine, steeling her resolve, Jyn raised her hand and knocked.</p><p>It only took a moment for the doors to open. She stepped into the foyer, her eyes roaming the place with curiosity. A glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room in a golden glow. A door to the right, a suit of armor to the left, two grand staircases on each side, meeting in the middle and leading up to a gallery. On the ground floor, right in front of the entrance and wedged between the staircases, glass doors opened to what looked like a parlor. Two hallways ran on both the left and right, the walls lined with paintings, occasionally decorated with vases of flowers.</p><p>The footman, human, who let her in gave a deep bow. Jyn almost laughed. She was not used to such gestures of respect and it felt a little surreal – as if she was a member of the aristocracy. Her parents may have been, once, but she was quite far from that now.</p><p>“Good evening, madam,” said the boy, around twenty to twenty-two, if she had to guess. “Would you like me to take your coat for you?”</p><p>Jyn waved her hand. She would rather hold onto her possessions while she was here.</p><p>“I’m just here to see Mon Mothma. But thank you,” she added when she realized she sounded a bit hostile. Her hatred of vampires and the aristocracy didn’t extend to their servants.</p><p>“I’m afraid Lady Mothma isn’t who you will be meeting,” the boy explained, his voice cordial. Jyn frowned. “This way, please.”</p><p>He held out his arm towards the door ahead. Jyn hesitated for a second. This was not what she thought she was agreeing to. Not Mothma? Then who? One of the Organas? She didn’t prefer one over the other but felt a little tricked by this omission from Mothma’s letter. If she was a petty person, she could turn around and leave. Actually, she <em>was </em>a petty person.</p><p>But the thought of those victims on the streets gave her pause. Didn’t she owe it to the people of London to at least hear out these vampires? She knew what Maia would say.</p><p>With a heavy sigh to steel herself, Jyn stepped inside.</p><p>Two men were already waiting in the parlor, and the sight of them eased her mind a bit. The two Guardians Lady Mothma had promised in her letter. At least, that wasn’t a lie.</p><p>The Guardians of the Whills acted as an intermediate between vampires and humans. More specifically, between vampires who wished to be part of civil society – like the Alliance, one of the most prominent groups – and humans who hunted them. An uneasy peace had formed between ‘civil vampires’ and hunters a century ago, but the two sides didn’t much like to interact. It was better for everyone involved to keep their distance, keep to their respective territories unless absolutely necessary. This was where the Guardians stepped in, to facilitate communication, like advocates of peace.</p><p>Or, in this case, to ensure the amicable and bloodless meeting between the factions. An insurance, an act of goodwill from both sides.</p><p>The Guardians themselves were humans who dedicated their lives to studying vampires and their anatomy, in order to better understand these creatures. Neutral and impartial. Their roots reached back further than even the first recorded organization of vampire hunters.</p><p>Her father had been a Guardian once. Perhaps raised by him, she would have followed in his footsteps. But her adoptive father was a Partisan. And Partisans did not like vampires.</p><p>Jyn gave the two men a brief but genuine smile. She was glad to see them here.</p><p>“Chirrut. Baze.”</p><p>“Little sister.”</p><p>Baze stood to greet her, while Chirrut inclined his head.</p><p>“I’m surprised you came,” said Baze in his usual gruff voice. He was a big, burly man who towered above Jyn with several inches. Despite his size, she never felt intimidated by him. Perhaps it was his eyes. Much as he pretended to be brusque and surly, he couldn’t disguise his kind eyes.</p><p>Chirrut, on the other hand, was shorter and slimmer with short-cropped hair. He carried himself with a cane, which Jyn long suspected doubled as a weapon. Although she had never seen him use it, and the Guardians were not fighters by nature, Jyn had the distinct feeling that he could beat anyone he wished with that staff. He was born blind, yet nothing escaped his attention – often, he joked that he was psychic.</p><p>Or perhaps it wasn’t a joke, one could never tell with Chirrut. But Baze did always like to make sure everyone knew that it was all a bunch of nonsense.</p><p>The two of them were Jyn’s favorite members of the Guardians, and she was very glad to have them here.</p><p>“I wasn’t sure I would,” she answered Baze with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “But I would feel irresponsible if I didn’t at least hear them out.”</p><p>“You made the right decision, sister,” Chirrut told her, rising from his seat on the cushy green recliner. “The path ahead of you will be challenging, but you will be rewarded for your perseverance in the end.”</p><p>“Ah, here he goes again,” Baze grumbled, shaking his head in the other man’s direction. Jyn knew him well enough now to hear the affection in his voice. “Let’s go in before he breaks into another prophecy.”</p><p>“Wait,” Jyn interrupted, stopping Baze. “Who am I meeting, do you know?”</p><p>“He’s a new member of the Alliance,” Chirrut said. “You will be working with him, should you choose to accept their offer.”</p><p>The way Chirrut said that let her know that he believed she would. Jyn trusted Chirrut’s judgment, but she couldn’t quite shake her unease at the thought of working with vampires.</p><p>“He has the face of a friend,” Baze assured her as if sensing her thoughts.</p><p>Jyn gave a curt nod. “Then let’s see what he has to say.”</p><p>Baze guided them towards another door in the corner, leading to what seemed to be a small study. Books upon books lined the shelves on both walls, rising tall to meet the ceiling. A ladder was placed against one side. In the middle stood a grand desk with papers strewn all over its surface, some folded, some rolled up, some held in place with paperweights. Next to the desk was a small earth globe, and in the corner, she could even spy a telescope. Behind the desk, the windows provided a lovely view of the courtyard.</p><p>And at the desk sat a man who rose immediately at their entrance. Hands behind his back, his eyes alert.</p><p>A soldier. Jyn was almost certain.</p><p>They weren’t hard to pick out. She’d seen that look before on other men who returned from the war, on hunters who’d witnessed horrific scenes, on herself in the mirror. The animal in her recognized the animal in him.</p><p>
  <em>Ah. Another warrior. So that’s why they chose him.</em>
</p><p>Then she took a closer look at him and her stomach twisted.</p><p>He was humanoid, of course. All members of the Alliance belonged to the same category of vampires: revenants.</p><p>Revenants were at the top of the food chain, the only intelligent kind. The most dangerous kind, if you asked her. They looked like normal people to the untrained eye, capable of blending in and living among humans. They were vampires in their most original form – just humans who had been reborn with sharper senses and unbeating hearts, unlike their other two counterparts who were much more animalistic.</p><p>But what caught Jyn’s eyes about the man was the color of his eyes.</p><p>Red.</p><p>It was the color of newborns.</p><p>A revenant’s eyes eventually settled back into their original color, helping them fit in even more easily. But after being remade, they burned bright red like a warning sign.</p><p>Which meant this man was recently turned anytime between yesterday and the last six months. The realization tasted bitter in her mouth.</p><p>When Chirrut said ‘new member’, she didn’t imagine he was a new vampire altogether.</p><p><em>Another failure –</em> No.</p><p>This was not the time or place.</p><p>Instead, she walked closer and crossed her arms across her chest. A somewhat petulant pose, her tone reflecting her unhappiness with this arrangement.</p><p> “So. I’m important enough to receive a letter personally addressed to me, but not important enough to discuss the terms with the lady herself.”</p><p>The man’s lips twitched for a second. She wasn’t sure if it was amusement or annoyance.</p><p>“Cassian Andor,” he introduced himself, his voice carrying a noticeable Spanish accent. “Pleasure.”</p><p>“I’m sure,” Jyn muttered darkly.</p><p>“Please. Take a seat.”</p><p>He gestured to the chair in front of the desk while he sat back down. Chirrut and Baze settled into the corner, only here as spectators, but Jyn hesitated. She contemplated standing, just to be contrary. But she wanted to see Andor’s face when they talked and standing so far away put her at a disadvantage. So she settled into the chair with only a short pause as Andor waited with an eyebrow raised.</p><p>“Tea?” he asked when she was finally seated, his voice neutral.</p><p>“Let’s skip the pleasantries,” Jyn said. She had no patience for small talk with humans, let alone with revenants. “Why do you care about the Beast?”</p><p>Andor didn’t seem surprised by her refusal or her harsh tone, but he did let out a small sigh like he was hoping they could be civil with each other. Well, too fucking bad for him.</p><p>“I believe Lady Mothma has already explained that in her letter. Neither you nor we want this creature stalking the night, preying on innocent people.”</p><p>“Preying on innocent people, huh?” She snorted. “When was the last time you fed?”</p><p>Andor pointedly ignored that.</p><p>“Whatever you think of us, we don’t condone violence like that. The Alliance decided that we must deal with this.”</p><p>The Alliance. Right. Jyn rolled her eyes.</p><p>The ‘benevolent vampires’ who liked to play by the rules. While they were certainly more tolerable than some of their less philanthropic counterparts, their self-importance always rubbed her the wrong way. If they thought they were being generous by not murdering people, they were wrong. They still fed on humans like parasites. And good or bad, an alliance of vampires was the last thing the world needed.</p><p>“And what is the <em>Alliance</em>,” Jyn began, the word like dirt in her mouth, “planning to do to stop the Beast?”</p><p> “We want your help in tracking him down. The Alliance believes our joined efforts could bring results,” he told her, but he sounded somewhat monotone like he was rehearsing a practiced speech.</p><p>They were words fed to him by the Alliance, perhaps Mon Mothma herself. But Jyn wasn’t interested in hearing pretty words and half-truths.</p><p>She leaned forward. “And what do you believe?”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“Don’t give me the company line. If I say yes, I’ll be working with you, right? Not with Mothma. I want to know what <em>you </em>think.”</p><p>Andor didn’t reply right away. It seemed like he wasn’t sure whether to dismiss her or humor her. If he said something wrong, she might walk away. But he likely sensed that she wouldn’t take their offer without a little honesty.</p><p>His unreadable expression didn’t change but after a moment of hesitation, he admitted, “I think you’re more likely to stab us in the back than help.”</p><p>A risky confession.</p><p>But it was honest.</p><p>Jyn leaned back, satisfied with his response. This, she could work with.</p><p>“So… you promise not to kill me if I promise not to kill you?”</p><p>Andor gave a shrug of his shoulders.</p><p>“You’re the one who wants us dead. I have no reason to kill you.”</p><p>“None?” she asked, her eyes lingering on the red of his irises. His lips spread into a wry smile.</p><p>“I don’t desire your blood, Miss Erso. We don’t all like the same things.”</p><p>Jyn tried not to frown. What was he implying, that her blood was not fragrant enough, not appetizing enough?</p><p>From the corner of the room, Chirrut let out a tiny cough but Andor never took his eyes off her. (Was he afraid to? Did he think she was too dangerous not to be monitored? <em>Good.</em>) Jyn pursed her lips, her gaze cold. She was <em>not </em>going to be offended.</p><p>“In my experience, you do.”</p><p>He leaned forward, his face intent as he looked at her. He wasn’t offended. But he seemed… fiercely determined. To what, she wondered. To prove her wrong?</p><p>
  <em>No.</em>
</p><p>To prove himself wrong.</p><p>“Perhaps you’re wrong. We’re not all monsters. We’re not the enemy.”</p><p>Jyn paused, considering the man in front of her.</p><p>He was reasonably attractive. He had sharp cheekbones, thin lips, a nose that had been broken once and healed wrong. Late twenties. Dark hair falling into a pair of eyes that saw everything. Despite their unnatural color, she found herself drawn to them.</p><p>Perhaps it was the sorrow that she saw in him, so familiar to her own. Something in his face spoke about grief of decades – not just the pain of dying and being reborn, no. It ran deeper than that.</p><p>But it was that, too, and she was once again reminded of how recent his transformation had been. He spoke in a self-assured manner, yet she had the sense that he hadn’t made peace with what he had become. That perhaps he didn’t much like himself, vampire or not, confidence or not.</p><p>It wasn’t fair, she thought, hit with a pang of grief. Not for the creature in front of her. But for the man he had been once before his life was ripped away from him.</p><p>It was easy to hate vampires and forget they had been human once. Easy to forget they had been victims too. After all, most revenants she encountered were over a hundred years old who’d lived longer as a vampire than as a human. But Cassian Andor…</p><p>He was still clutching onto his humanity as it steadily slipped from his fingers.</p><p>Uncomfortable, Jyn dropped her gaze to her lap. She had nothing to say to him that wasn’t an apology.</p><p>Sensing that she wasn’t going to answer, Andor went on but his voice lost its ferocity.</p><p>“We’re after the same thing,” he said, quieter now, trying to appeal to her rationality. “Why not work together?”</p><p>Jyn counted to five, then raised her gaze when she was sure she had her emotions under control. Looking Cassian Andor straight in the eye.</p><p>“I will think about it.”</p>
<hr/><p>Jyn walked out of the Organa’s mansion with a straight face and her head held high. Inside, she was reeling.</p><p>
  <em>(His bloodred eyes felt like an accusation – another person she failed to protect.)</em>
</p><p>She didn’t stop until she was in front of the gates, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths of the cool night air to calm her racing heart. The chilly wind felt nice against her heated cheeks. Something to bring down her blood pressure. She had to get a grip and stop thinking about his red eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Start thinking about their offer instead, you fool. Are you going to accept or not? </em>
</p><p>“Are you alright, little sister?” Baze asked, and she opened her eyes to see him giving her a concerned look. They had bid their farewells as well, accompanying her outside.</p><p>“Yes,” she said, relieved to hear that her voice, at least, was steady. <em>Get it together, Jyn. </em>“I’m fine.”</p><p>“You didn’t expect a newborn,” Chirrut said, always cutting straight to the heart of things.</p><p>He sounded almost cheery like he knew something she didn’t. He always sounded like that, but right now, especially. Jyn sent a glare his way, one he might not be able to see but would certainly feel.</p><p>“No, I did not. A little warning would have been nice.”</p><p>“Ah, but it wouldn’t have mattered. You needed to see it for yourself.”</p><p>“It?” she questioned, frowning.</p><p>“Yes, it. Him. What a newborn looks like. You have a lot left to learn about vampires, Miss Erso.”</p><p>Her first instinct was to disagree. To tell him that she knew all there was to know about vampires, to tell him they were all monsters, to tell him she’d never even consider working with them. But that wasn’t true, was it?</p><p>Because she <em>was </em>considering, and she clearly didn’t know much about newborns.</p><p>
  <em>When did a person stop being a person and start being a vampire?</em>
</p><p>In the dark night, Jyn felt smaller than ever, just a tiny atom of a grand plan.</p><p>She couldn’t shake the somewhat foreboding feeling: something was starting.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'd like to say I'll update next Tuesday again but I'm writing this as I go so please bear with me &lt;3 I will try my best but uni can get pretty busy sometimes (though I’m making good progress on chapter 2 atm, so it’s definitely possible)</p><p>Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts and in the meantime, you can always find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Killer Is a Killer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jyn has an answer for Cassian.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So apparently colored contact lenses first appeared in the 1930s but *jazz hands* we have vampires, we can excuse small inaccuracies, right?</p><p>Content warning: period-typical racism, suicidal inclinations (both very mild, but I'd rather put it out there.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassian woke at sundown to knocks on his door. Mrs. Cooper. He could tell by her scent.</p><p>Staring at the clock on the other side of the room, he didn’t react right away. Instead, he marveled at how clearly he could make out the numbers from such distance. The curtains were all methodically drawn in to keep out the sunlight during the day, but his eyes didn’t need to adjust. From the moment he opened them, even in the dark, his vision was near perfect. <em>Like a predator’s.</em></p><p>Three months and he was almost used to it. But in moments like this, between the waking and the dreaming world, it still astonished him.</p><p>
  <em>It hadn’t been a nightmare then.</em>
</p><p>Every day he hoped it would be.</p><p>Slowly, he sat up and pulled himself out of bed, pausing when his feet touched the ground. It was a Sunday, which meant he had nowhere to be, and his mood was already sour. He couldn’t describe his social life as ‘busy’ or ‘exciting’ even before his rebirth, but now, it was non-existent. He would be invited to the Organa’s mansion sometimes, or he would visit Kay at the morgue, but most days, the only people he’d see would be the patrons at the pub. Tonight would be another night spent in solitude.</p><p>Cassian shook his head. It was entirely too early for self-deprecation to set in. After all, he had the whole night ahead for that.</p><p>Standing from the bed, he began dressing and called out to Mrs. Cooper to let her know he was coming, he just needed a moment. Then he stepped in front of the windows to draw out the curtains, greeting the full moon in the sky.</p><p>He hadn’t felt the sun on his skin in three months.</p><p>Next to everything else he lost, it was merely an inconvenience. But he missed it. He missed the warmth of the sun on his skin. England was already so much colder and drearier than his homeland. He missed closing his eyes and tilting his head up and soaking in the sunlight.</p><p>(He missed <em>feeling </em>warm.)</p><p>
  <em>No self-deprecation. Pull yourself together, for God’s sake.</em>
</p><p>Cassian headed towards the door but turned back at the last minute. The stupid contact lenses. He always forgot them.</p><p>He reached into his drawer and pulled out the brown-colored contacts Leia gave him to hide his red eyes. Just for a few months. She assured him the red would eventually fade – her eyes were perfectly normal – but the bloody contacts always irritated him. They felt like sandpaper.</p><p>Once in place, he ambled back to the door and finally opened it. Mrs. Cooper was standing on the other end with her hand raised to knock again, impatience written all over her strict face. She was in her sixties, mean little eyes, thin lips perpetually stuck in a frown. With no kids, her late husband left this and a dozen other flats to her name, providing her with more than enough income for the rest of her life.</p><p>Cassian never much liked her. Something in the way she eyed him with distrust the first time they met. He considered himself lucky she even let him rent a flat; people like her never took well to immigrants.</p><p>But he’d always paid on time and he’d always paid in full. Now… not so much.</p><p>He knew she was close to evicting him altogether.</p><p>“Mr. Andor,” she greeted him, her tone cool and snooty.</p><p>“Mrs. Cooper,” he echoed, though much more pleasantly. He forced some cheer into his voice – he did not want to be living on the streets. He suspected it would be a death sentence in his current condition. “How are you feeling?”</p><p>Cassian didn’t think himself an irresistible man but he could fake a certain charisma if he had to. A smile, polite words, a friendly tone – it usually worked. Mrs. Cooper, however, was unaffected by his charm.</p><p>“Respectfully, sir,” she began, though he knew she meant no respect at all, “I would feel better if you paid your due rent.”</p><p>Cassian sighed under his breath.</p><p>“I promised I would pay the other half by the end of the month. I will keep my word, Mrs. Cooper.”</p><p>“My patience is wearing thin, Mr. Andor. I don’t understand why you refuse to find a new job. You sit cooped up in this flat all day and only leave at night to go work at that seedy pub. Surely, there are better ways to pass your time and earn your money.”</p><p><em>Dear God, she would not quit it. </em>Cassian took a deep breath, hit by the strong flowery scent of her perfume. (She did not smell very appetizing to him – small mercies. Nevertheless, he’d have to feed soon.)</p><p>The problem, of course, was the sun. Perhaps it ought to be higher on his list of grievances, after all.</p><p>He could not keep his job as a carpenter because he could not work in the daylight. His options were severely limited, and nighttime jobs didn’t pay as well. Even taking extra shifts at the pub, he was struggling. It was lucky he didn’t need to eat human food anymore, or else he wasn’t sure how he would manage.</p><p>The Organas, of course, offered to help – Leia, in particular, insisting that he move in with them. But Cassian, as much as he liked the family, felt out of place in their grand mansion in a place like Westminster.</p><p>“Cassian,” Leia had said, eyes stern. “You’re punishing yourself for no reason.”</p><p>But he knew better. People like him didn’t belong there. Although he appreciated their offer, he could not take their charity. They had already helped enough when he was reborn and left on the streets like a discarded toy to navigate this new life by himself.</p><p>Truly, he had no idea how ordinary vampires made it on their own. But perhaps there was no such thing as <em>ordinary vampires.</em></p><p>All the while, Mrs. Cooper’s tirade hadn’t ceased.</p><p>“You used to be such an upstanding young man, I thought to myself, this man is not like the rest of his lot. He could go far in life. I don’t understand what happened. I know your sister’s death was hard on you but –”</p><p>“Don’t talk about my sister,” Cassian cut her off, his voice cold as ice. The one thing he could not tolerate. She’d pushed him too far.</p><p>Mrs. Cooper reeled back. He wondered what she saw in him that put fear in her eyes. Did his eyes flash? Did his face turn cruel? Did she see the monster in him?</p><p>Or did she just see an ordinary man who was capable of hurting her regardless?</p><p>A killer was a killer. Soldier or not. War wasn’t an excuse. He’d been a dangerous person long before he was remade.</p><p><em>What the hell are you doing here? Among humans who don’t understand? Who are in constant danger</em> <em>because of you? Perhaps Leia was right, you should leave your old life behind.</em></p><p>Mercifully, a new face appeared at the end of the hallway, interrupting the moment. Cassian recognized him as one of the servants at the Organa’s mansion.</p><p>“Two weeks.” Cassian turned to Mrs. Cooper, desperate to get rid of her. “Give me two weeks, I will pay in full.”</p><p>Mrs. Cooper swallowed and nodded, perhaps too terrified to argue. He made a mental note to look for a different accommodation soon. He doubted he would be allowed to stay here for much longer.</p><p>As soon as she was gone, Cassian turned to the boy.</p><p>“Good evening, sir. Miss Organa sent me to tell you that Miss Erso has shown up at the mansion. She has an answer for you.”</p><p>Cassian raised an eyebrow. “Did she say what it was?”</p><p>The boy shook his head. “She insists on talking to you.”</p><p>Well, of course. Offended, at first, to be delegated to him – a second-rank player – and now stubbornly refusing to talk to Leia. He didn’t know her, but it sounded quite in character for Jyn Erso.</p><p>Not that he was complaining. He was glad to be out of this hellhole tonight, to be doing something, <em>anything.</em></p><p>Erso was a wildcard, unpredictable, dangerous. She might just be his death.</p><p>Nothing seemed better at the moment.</p><hr/><p>The footman, Eddie, let him in as usual and directed him to the study where he and Erso met a week ago. Cassian took a second to put his coat on the rack and remove his contacts before heading in. In the parlor, however, Leia was waiting for him, setting her book aside as he stepped in.</p><p>“Miss Erso is inside. She didn’t want to talk to me.” Leia stood up, an amused smile on her lips. “You must have made an impression.”</p><p>Cassian shook his head. “I doubt it.” <em>The wrong kind, perhaps.</em></p><p>Leia raised her eyebrows, skeptical as she appraised him. Despite her short stature, she always seemed larger than life. Capable of commanding a room with a look, outsmarting men twice her age. Her words careful but deliberate, her movements graceful, her style immaculate – she was a lady through and through.</p><p>He knew she considered him a friend and he was grateful for her kindness in the difficult months after his transition, but he could never quite share the sentiment. Through no fault of her own; Cassian just wasn’t used to moving in such circles. He was a nobody from Mexico and she was – well, he wasn’t sure of her human background, but she was certainly someone. Even addressing her by her first name seemed impossible at first. How could someone like her be his friend?</p><p>What was he doing with these people?</p><p>Leia eventually tilted her head – not quite in agreement but willing to let it drop. He didn’t know what she wasn’t saying, but he was sure she had <em>opinions.</em></p><p>“Well, you shouldn’t keep her waiting. She’s quite impatient, I’ve gathered.”</p><p>Cassian glanced towards the study and focused. All else fell away as the steady heartbeat behind the door heightened. He could hear a tapping noise as well, almost like someone was drumming their fingers against the desk.</p><p>Right. He better get on with it then.</p><p>He spared Leia one last look – she quirked her eyebrows at him – before he walked in. Jyn Erso was sitting where he had been days ago, one hand indeed drumming on the desk in front of her. She didn’t rise, but he didn’t expect her to; there was no respect between the two of them, he was certain of that after their first meeting. Her expression seemed to say ‘took you long enough.’</p><p>Her other hand was resting on a dagger in front of her.</p><p>A threat. Cassian didn’t bother reacting. He hadn’t met many hunters during his short lifetime as a revenant, but he wondered if they were all the same. Aggressive, brash, violent. Unable to compromise, unable to see reason, unable to open their minds to the possibility that not all vampires were the same.</p><p>A killer was a killer. Vampire hunter or not.</p><p>He wondered what was more important to them, killing vampires or saving people?</p><p>She didn’t even greet him, and he felt a little petty because he didn’t bother with it either. His eyes fell on the cross necklace she wore around her neck, and instead, he asked, “Are you religious?”</p><p>She blinked, perhaps caught off-guard by his question. It took her a second to answer.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>She obviously wasn’t going to offer any other explanations and he wasn’t going to ask. He was raised Catholic and had been religious once in life. He went to mass every Sunday. Now, he wasn’t sure. Though holy symbols didn’t actually hurt vampires as many stories seemed to say, he couldn’t bring himself to step inside a church since he had been remade.</p><p>Was God real if he allowed creatures like him to be born? And if he was, what kind of deity was he?</p><p>Cassian sat down and gave Erso an expectant look. She didn’t want to talk to Leia, but now that he was here, she wasn’t saying anything. She was going to make him ask.</p><p>(He profiled her in the back of his mind: stubborn, petty, wants to be in control.)</p><p>“Well?” he wondered, just a little testy.</p><p>She pursed her lips, her eyes falling to the dagger for a second. It was charming that she was trying to intimidate him, but if she thought he was scared of her, she’d be sorely disappointed. She was adept at her job, he was sure. But he wasn’t scared of anything these days.</p><p>“I don’t trust you and I don’t like you,” Erso said. It seemed like every word was squeezed out of her by force. “But I’m willing to try.”</p><p>Cassian’s lips quirked up into a small, humorless smile. Perhaps it was about saving people then.</p><p>She’d be difficult to work with, but he was grateful.</p><p>“But just so you know, if you get me killed, I <em>will</em> come back to haunt you.”</p><p>“If I were you, being killed isn’t what I’d worry about,” he countered.</p><p>“Let me correct that. If I become a vampire, I’m going to haunt you. I’m going to make your undead existence miserable.”</p><p>Cassian let out a small puff of air.</p><p>“Alright,” he said. Whatever made her feel better.</p><p>“And tell the Alliance I’m not their lackey. This is a one-time favor.”</p><p>He almost smiled at the contempt in her voice.</p><p>“In time, Jyn, you might come to see that you and I want the same things. We’re not the enemy.”</p><p>She didn’t seem like she quite believed that, her eyes as suspicious as ever. He wasn’t sure she’d ever believe it. But she was willing to put that aside to save people and find this beast, and that was what mattered.</p><p>“Don’t make me regret this,” she warned him. Another threat, on the surface. But he could hear a hidden plea in her voice.</p><p>
  <em>Don’t make me regret trusting you.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Cassian pulled out a map of London and spread it out on the desk, marking every single attack that took place. All over the city with seemingly no connection. If there was, nobody had figured it out yet. Erso leaned in to take a look as well, and her scent hit him directly as she bent her head.</p><p>Cassian stopped breathing.</p><p><em>Fuck. </em>She was tantalizing.</p><p>He really needed to feed.</p><p>He hated doing it. Their racing heartbeats, their eyes glazed over with pleasure, their body going slack in his grip. The sense of wrongness<em>. </em>The memory of his own death.</p><p>But avoiding it was useless. It would only make him hungrier, only risk the chance of losing his self-control and killing someone. He liked to put it off as much as he could, but not to the point of irresponsibility.</p><p>He was nearing that, he realized, his body stiff and his hands curled into fists as he stared at a pulsing vein in Erso’s neck. He had to feed <em>tonight.</em></p><p>Erso turned her gaze to him like she could sense what he was thinking, and he glanced away in shame. <em>This is why she thinks you’re all monsters. Maybe she’s not so wrong after all?</em></p><p>“What?” she asked with her eyebrows raised. Cassian gestured to the map.</p><p>“What do you think?”</p><p>Her eyes lingered for a second, securitizing. Slowly, she turned back to the map and let out a heavy sigh.</p><p>“Can’t see a pattern between the locations. But the victims, on the other hand…”</p><p>“All men.” Cassian nodded. “But I haven’t found any other connections. No preferred age group, no preferred race, social class, marital status, profession, <em>anything</em>. And the timings –”</p><p>“Always at night,” she cut in with a frown on her face. Though that much was obvious. “But sometimes they don’t kill for days, and sometimes they kill twice in a night.”</p><p>“Exactly. It’s like they don’t care. It’s a whim. Whoever they cross paths with, as long as it’s a man. No rhyme or reason. No logic. It’s like –”</p><p>“They’re just a mindless killing machine?” She raised her eyebrows, challenging him to disagree. Cassian couldn’t. He looked away, once again uncomfortable.</p><p>“Humans are capable of heinous crimes as well,” he murmured. He’d witnessed those crimes first-hand.</p><p>Erso didn’t answer. Why was he trying so hard to defend what he’d become? Half the time, he couldn’t stand it either.</p><p>But perhaps that was why. A need to prove that he could still be good. He could <em>choose </em>to be good.</p><p>“Besides,” he continued, voice still strained, “they’re not mindless. They know what they’re doing. One thing’s always the same, one thing other than their gender.”</p><p>“Right.” He could feel her eyes on him like a burning itch, but he refused to meet her gaze. “A withered red rose placed on the victim’s mouth.”</p><p>“It’s a message.”</p><p>“To who?” she wondered, though she didn’t expect an answer. Cassian had no idea yet. But if they figured that out, they might be able to figure out the identity of the Beast.</p><p>He leaned down to inspect the map closer, his eyes following the red X-es all over the city.</p><p>“If it’s a message, there’s a motive. If there’s a motive, there must be a clue.”</p><p>They were not doing it for fun. Or not <em>just</em> for fun.</p><p>But Erso let out an exhausted sigh, her voice doubtful. “You have to consider the possibility that they’re just taunting law enforcement. Like a twisted game. It wouldn’t be the first time a serial killer has done that.”</p><p>He looked up, catching her gaze and holding it. From her sour expression, he wondered if his red eyes bothered her.</p><p>“Come on, Erso, have a little hope.”</p><p>“<em>Hope?</em>”</p><p>He could hear what she was thinking. People are being murdered and you want to talk about hope?</p><p>But he’d been murdered as well, and if he hadn’t held onto his hope, he would have walked out into the sunlight three months ago and let the earth claim his ashes.</p><p>“Yes. What’s life without hope?”</p><hr/><p>They spent forty more minutes going through each case, looking at photographs the police had taken of the crime scenes (now in their possession courtesy of Lady Mothma.)</p><p>Erso once pointed to a picture with a severed leg and gave him a thoughtful look.</p><p>“The brutality of these attacks… the strength it would even take to tear someone apart with your bare hands… are we even sure this vampire is a revenant?”</p><p>Cassian raised an eyebrow. Yes, fiends tended to be much stronger and much more violent than revenants. But –</p><p>“Do you know of any fiend smart enough to hide their trail like this?”</p><p>“Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking it. These attacks are much more characteristics of a fiend than a revenant.”</p><p>Cassian shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”</p><p>“Tell me about it. Nothing here does.”</p><p>There’d been only a handful of witnesses, none of them who actually saw the Beast, but he and Erso agreed to talk to them. With not much else to go on, they had to start at the beginning. Though Cassian’s <em>condition</em> limited their timeframe, it came with an upside – if all else failed, he could compel the witnesses to tell the truth.</p><p>(He’d never done that before and he wasn’t feeling good about it… but he could try.)</p><p>Once there was nothing left to say, Cassian stopped to stare at her for a second. Erso was a rather pretty woman, if a little intimidating. (Some people liked that.) Judging by appearance, she must have been a couple of years younger than him but not by much. She was wearing pants like a man, though he supposed it was reasonable attire for a vampire hunter. He couldn’t imagine her running around the streets of London in a stylish dress like Leia’s – he couldn’t imagine her in a dress at all.</p><p>Hair in a bun, her green eyes guarded and mistrustful. It could be just towards him, just because he was a vampire, but he felt like suspicion was in her blood. He felt her loneliness, somehow, perhaps because it was similar to his own.</p><p>She must have lost people, he decided. Why would anyone become a vampire hunter unless they’ve been made a victim by one? And in that case, could he really blame her for despising them?</p><p>“Do you hate me?” he asked without preamble, seeing the surprise in her eyes. She hesitated, though not because she was unsure of her answer – she was trying to figure out his angle.</p><p>“I hate what you are.”</p><p>Cassian looked around, aware that they could be overheard at any moment. It wouldn’t have to be on purpose; how many times had he inadvertently spied on a conversation in the pub simply because he couldn’t turn off his heightened hearing?</p><p>He headed to the gramophone in the corner and put on a record. One he knew to be loud. As the booming sounds of a saxophone began to fill the room, Erso’s expression turned increasingly confounded. Not necessarily wary, just curious. He supposed it was good that she wasn’t immediately brandishing her dagger in his direction.</p><p>He walked back to her and looked into her eyes. Holding nothing back anymore.</p><p>“Once we’ve found the Beast… once we stop him for good… you can have my life.”</p><p>Her frown deepened. She clearly did not expect that and did not understand it, her gaze apprehensive as she looked at him.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Your agreement of peace with the Alliance concerns only revenants who don’t kill people. Those who break the pact are free prey for hunters. I’ve been told about it.” He closed his eyes, exhaling. Perhaps too ashamed to look her in the eye. The next part came out like a defeat. “And I’ve been told to keep quiet about killing someone. I’ve been told that no newborn can restrain themselves the first time they feed and that I should not suffer death for it.”</p><p>A bitter laugh sat in his throat. <em>And what about the person whose life I took?</em></p><p>“But I cannot forgive myself. I should face justice, it’s only fair. And once we caught the Beast, you can exact that justice. But not a moment sooner.”</p><p>No. He needed to finish this.</p><p>Silence. Only the boisterous music could be heard in the room, so in contrast with their conversation. Finally, he opened his eyes and saw that she was looking at him with an expressionless mask. Like she was completely unaffected by what he’d just told her. He’d expected to find hatred, disgust, revulsion, – rightfully so – but he wasn’t prepared for emptiness.</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>She inclined her head like it was an ordinary favor. Like he was just asking her to lend him a book and not to put a stake through his heart.</p><p>After a pause, she went on.</p><p>“I only have one request of you. It’s… a code of the Partisans. When we’re in battle and one of us faces the possibility of being transformed… we kill them. We don’t let them be turned. I ask that you do the same for me.”</p><p>Cassian nodded. Easily done. It was only fair that he gave something in return.</p><p>“I promise.” Then he added with a slight smirk, “But don’t worry. I don’t think anyone would want you as their immortal companion. They’re more likely to go straight for the kill. Should they try, anyway, I will make sure to give you the mercy of death.”</p><p>Erso’s lips twitched into a smile that was almost amused.</p><p>“It’s not as though you would care if I perished.”</p><p>The somber mood of their conversation gone, Cassian found that this unfriendly banter they had developed was almost pleasant.</p><p>“Well.” He shrugged.</p><p>Erso seemed elated at his candor, like the thought of his indifference pleased her. What a strange partnership they made.</p><p>“I shall go now,” she told him, words he was grateful to hear. <em>(He needed to feed.)</em></p><p>Turning around, he silenced the gramophone and began to put away the map and photographs. He was interrupted when she stopped in the doorway and called back to him.</p><p>“Andor.” She waited until he glanced back at her. “If this is a trap, I’ll put a stake through your heart, and then I’ll burn down your precious Alliance.”</p><p>Oh, how delightfully mistrustful she was. He smiled.</p><p>“We’re vampires, Erso, we don’t need to resort to cheap tactics. If I wanted you dead,” he paused, finding her gaze, “I’d look you in the eye as I killed you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading! Find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Three Things That Could Kill a Vampire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jyn and Cassian interview the first witness and come upon some unsettling discoveries.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mild violence in this chapter.</p><p>I know many of you were curious about the other vampire species so this chapter should satisfy that. If you'd like to see my visual references for them, <a href="https://gwent.one/img/assets/max/art/1411.jpg">this</a> and <a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/7/7d/Tw3_cardart_monsters_vampire_fleder.png/revision/latest?cb=20170425203059">this</a> was my inspiration for fiends and <a href="https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/011/521/697/large/adrian-meribault-0page-ghouls1a.jpg?1530012210">this</a> for ghouls.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassian picked up Erso after sundown at the Guardian’s headquarters – neutral ground – to make their way to Whitechapel where the first witness lived. The Alliance had gifted him an automobile which he agreed to use only as long as they were investing the Beast. It was true that it made transportation easier.</p><p>Erso arrived equipped with her trusty blade strapped to her pants. Contrary to legends, any damage to the heart could kill a vampire, not just stakes. Silver was particularly useful as it burned a vampire’s skin, and Cassian suspected the weapon she carried was indeed made of that.</p><p>She also brought a machete this time which was shorter and more practical than a sword but long and broad enough to behead someone. Also fatal to his kind.</p><p>Other than that, fire. The three things that could kill a vampire.</p><p>Jyn Erso seemed well-versed in all of it. She had told him, smirking, when she saw his eyes lingering on her blade: “Easiest weapon to hide. Stakes are too medieval. I have a flamethrower back at the compound but we only use it for emergencies.”</p><p>Cassian raised his eyebrows. “Have you ever used it?”</p><p>“No.” She sounded regretful. “I hope I can one day.”</p><p>Cassian wasn’t sure he wanted to be around for that.</p><p>On top of the weapons, she, like any good hunter, also carried hawthorn which was poisonous to vampires. It wouldn’t kill them but it was toxic enough to slow or even immobilize them. Perfect for interrogations, though he wasn’t sure – did vampire hunters even interrogate vampires? He didn't know all the rules yet.</p><p>As for himself, he didn’t need weapons. If trouble arose, he had his fangs and his retractable claws.</p><p>The weather was somber as they stepped out of the car. Winter was setting in and days grew shorter. (An advantage, for him and for any other vampire. Wintertime must be when his kind thrived.)</p><p>A chilly wind blew from the north, inciting citizens to bundle up warmly before heading outside. He didn’t feel the cold, but he could see Erso pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders, her breath leaving a cloud in the air.</p><p>Their witness was one Mr. John Evans who had the misfortune of discovering the first body. According to his testimony, he could glimpse a look at the Beast as well. What exactly he did see was omitted from reports, but police didn’t think it was relevant. They believed it to be the ramblings of a shell-shocked individual who was, on top of that, drunk at the time. Whatever he saw must have been his imagination.</p><p>Looking around, Cassian wasn’t surprised the police had come to that conclusion. The neighborhood could be described in one word: impoverished. Sunken eyes, worn-out faces everywhere he looked. People without nary a coat nor a scarf. Children running around barefoot, dirt on their cheeks. Homeless begging on the streets.</p><p>(He gave five shillings to an old man with one milky-white eye sitting on the ground. Erso eyed him strangely.)</p><p>He was familiar with places like these, he grew up in places like these. It took a workplace accident for his family to relocate. His father killed by a collapsing scaffold, the reparations paid by the company allowed them to find better accommodations. A small amend for a human life.</p><p>If this was where Evans lived, it was no shock that the police had dismissed him as unreliable. They never cared about the poor. But whatever he’d seen could be useful to them.</p><p>Erso knocked on his door, and Cassian leaned closer to murmur, “What are we going to tell him?”</p><p>Before she could answer, the door opened with a bang.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>A tall burly man stood before them, wearing only trousers and a white tank top. He was bald, maybe in his late 40s, gaze suspicious. His blue eyes were clouded; Cassian could smell whiskey on his breath. And… something else. Like decay.</p><p>He frowned. He’d smelled that a handful of times before. By now, he knew what it meant. Disease. Not just an average cold either; something far more severe.</p><p>“Mr. Evans?” Erso said.</p><p>“Who’s asking?”</p><p>Oh, yes. Very suspicious.</p><p>“We want to talk to you about the body you found on October the 1st,” Erso told him, her voice leaving no room for argument. Cassian watched it unfold with a frown. He didn’t think her authoritative tone was the right approach.</p><p>“Who are you?” Evans insisted with a hint of hostility.</p><p>Erso opened her mouth but hesitated. Almost like she wasn’t sure what to say.</p><p>Seriously? Cassian could barely restrain an eye-roll. <em>She didn’t have a plan?</em></p><p>Before she could say something undoubtedly rude and offend their witness, Cassian stepped in.</p><p>“We’re investigative journalists from <em>The Daily Telegraph</em>. My name is Cassian Andor, this is Jyn Erso. We would really appreciate it if you could give us a couple minutes of your time.”</p><p>That made Evans pause. Though he still eyed them with distrust, he sounded less hostile when he answered.</p><p>“I already told the police –”</p><p>“We know,” Cassian assured him, voice gentle. “But we know they didn’t take you seriously. We want to hear the story from you.”</p><p>Another pause before Evans let out a heavy sigh and gestured them inside.</p><p>Erso glowered before stepping in. “I could have handled it.”</p><p>Cassian didn’t comment, too preoccupied with the fact that he wasn’t invited in with words. Just another downside of being a vampire. He was lucky enough to be able to access his own flat after he was turned (he didn’t own it but living in it seemed to be enough.) Now he hovered outside the door, watching as Erso followed Evans in without a problem.</p><p>They both turned back to him, no doubt looking like an idiot as he stood there like a tree rooted to the spot. Erso was predictably unhelpful, her mouth twisting into an amused smile. (She was really malicious sometimes.)</p><p>Evans raised his eyebrows. “Well, come in then.”</p><p>
  <em>Thank God.</em>
</p><p>Cassian plastered an awkward smile on his face and stepped through the threshold.</p><p>Evans steered them towards a table in a room that looked like a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom all at once. As they sat, he took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The look in his eyes was haunted as he recalled that fateful night.</p><p>“What do you want to know?”</p><hr/><p>In the end, Cassian didn’t have to compel him to tell the truth. He was glad – not only because he’d never done it before, because he felt wrong forcing his will on someone, but also because he didn’t want to taste Evans’s blood, tainted with alcohol and disease as it was.</p><p>That was the only way a vampire could compel someone. By biting them and transferring their venom into their veins, a revenant could put humans under their thrall. Influence their thoughts, feelings, or actions to a degree. This meant they could make humans calmer during feeding, make them tell the truth, make them do certain things. The extent of it depended on the revenant’s power. The more powerful they were, the greater influence they had.</p><p>Cassian wasn’t sure where he stood on the hierarchy, especially as often, the power of your maker determined your own power, and his maker… well, that vampire was nowhere to be found.</p><p>But the interesting part about Evan’s testimony was the part the police had omitted from records.</p><p>“It’s crazy,” he muttered, his eyes far away as he stared at a spot on the wall. “I was drunk. Coppers might’ve been right this time, I might’ve hallucinated it.”</p><p>“We’d still like to hear it,” Erso said, surprisingly gentle.</p><p>Evans paused. Still staring at the wall, he began to talk in a monotone voice.</p><p>“When I stepped out of the pub and saw… <em>all that.</em> There was no one there. But I felt like I was being watched. Felt the hairs on my neck stand up, it was proper eerie. The fucking air seemed colder. And then… I don’t know what made me do it but I looked up. There. On the rooftops. I swear I looked into the eyes of the fucking devil, they were so dark, so evil. Couldn’t see the thing’s face, covered in the shadows, but the eyes stood out. My heart nearly stopped. I swear I could see my life flash before my eyes, I knew it was going to kill me. But I couldn’t fucking move. I just stood there, rooted to the spot, until the door opened behind me and the thing fucking vanished. Poof. Gone. Just like that.”</p><p>Evans swallowed and dropped his gaze to the ashtray on the table. Almost like he was ashamed to be admitting such things. Or like he was still holding something back.</p><p>Cassian leaned forward on a hunch. “Just like that?”</p><p>Evans didn’t respond but Cassian stared at him, silently urging him to talk. Eventually, he glanced up, his eyes full of fear. A daunting sight on a man so large and brash.</p><p>“Well, it seemed like… it almost seemed like it turned into a fucking bat. I know that’s fucking crazy. Coppers told me so. I know it too. But it just… flew away.”</p><p>He closed his eyes, rubbing his temple with two fingers as he still held a lit cigarette in his other two. He was finished, he’d told them everything.</p><p>Cassian carefully didn’t react. He chanced a look at Erso who was already looking at him. Wary, as well as a bit triumphant.</p><p>Turning into a bat – only one vampire species could do that. Only a fiend.</p><hr/><p>Jyn had only encountered a fiend once when she was fourteen. They were undoubtedly the rarest breed, though second in the food chain in terms of power and intelligence.</p><p>For long centuries, only revenants existed. No one was really sure how old their kind was, but the first recorded writings about revenants dated back to Ancient Egypt. Fiends and ghouls both mutated from them during the Middle Ages. Members of the Guardians had dedicated their entire lives to figuring out the process, the biological explanation. Jyn was more interested in knowing how to recognize and kill them, but she knew the basics.</p><p>It all tied back to bloodlines. The birth of ghouls was a longer process, transpiring when a revenant’s blood was not powerful enough to create a proper revenant. It was essentially the result of an unsuccessful transformation process. The Guardians had determined that the bloodline of revenants degraded over generations until the newest members of the family tree became incapable of passing on their “gift.” And so, vampires of a lesser lineage were born.</p><p>The origins of fiends were hazier, though Guardians believed them to have first mutated in Russia around the 9th century. Some of them speculated whether it was the result of revenants feeding primarily on other revenants and not on humans. Jyn wasn’t quite convinced – revenants feeding on revenants was often a sexual preference, and as far as she knew, no one here in England had turned into a fiend because of it. But she was no scientist and there may have been other factors at play that influenced their evolution.</p><p>The fiend she encountered was a monstrous thing. She recalled every single detail with precision. They were primitive, savage beasts, massive in their size, driven by basic instincts. Physically the strongest of all three species, they hunted and tore apart their prey like ragdolls. They were extremely territorial by nature and would attack anyone entering their space.</p><p>Their appearance was beastly with their greyish skin, horribly misshapen back, wide, toothy jaw, and completely hairless, often warty body. Their head was triangular with horn-like protrusions, their eyes glowing red much like a newborn revenant’s. Their hands and feet ended in claws, their arms also serving as wings as the membranes under their arms enabled them to jump higher than an average vampire.</p><p>Though they were powerful, they were relatively slow. The only way to fight them was by dodging their attacks and surprising them from behind. Jyn had witnessed Saw fight the fiend, remembered its vicious growls, its clashing teeth, the drool dripping from its mouth. Saw had beheaded it with a machete, but he gained a permanent scar on his left cheek and never quite walked straight after that.</p><p>“I told you.”</p><p>Jyn wheeled on Andor as soon as they were out of Evans’s home, crossing her arms across her chest. She said it, didn’t she? Evans saw the Beast turn into a bat. Something only a fiend could do.</p><p>Andor shook his head. He looked troubled and she could sympathize – whatever this meant, it wasn’t <em>good </em>– but for now, she just wanted to bask in the glory of being right.</p><p>“It doesn’t make <em>sense</em>,” he insisted.</p><p>“Well, how do you explain what he saw?”</p><p>“Maybe… there’s more than one perpetrator?”</p><p>Jyn rolled her eyes.</p><p>“A revenant who’s… what, tamed a fiend? Because <em>that’s</em> likely.”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Andor ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. He turned his dark eyes to her – brown now thanks to the contacts he was wearing. She was glad for them. “You’re the vampire hunter, you tell me. Is it possible?”</p><p>Everything she’d ever read about fiends emphasized their primitive thinking. She remembered Saw’s fight with the creature, how it wasn’t even capable of speaking, driven by pure instinct to kill. It seemed unlikely that an ordinary fiend could orchestrate a large-scale murder spree, cover their tracks, leave behind roses as their signature symbol.</p><p>Like Andor had said, it seemed like a message. Not something fiends should be capable of.</p><p>But she’d only met one before and… organisms evolved, didn’t they? Maybe it was possible.</p><p>(The thought made her shudder. The last thing they needed was more sentient vampires.)</p><p>“Never heard of it,” she admitted, shrugging. “But we can’t rule out anything. I’ll talk to the Guardians about it, see what they think.”</p><p>If anyone could give them an answer, it would be the people who’d studied vampire biology for centuries.</p><p>Jyn looked around, noticing how deserted the streets got. It was late.</p><p>“Come on.” She jerked her head, motioning him forward. “We can still talk to the second witness before everyone retires for the night.”</p><p>But as she began to move, Andor reached out and grabbed her arm.</p><p>“Look.”</p><p>For a second, she was too shocked to follow his gaze, staring at his hand instead. He was brave, touching her like that. Reckless, even. She wanted to be angry but could only feel a strange but warm sensation sweeping through her.</p><p>(Jesus Christ, to get aroused by a vampire. She’d gone too long without being touched by anyone.)</p><p>Forcefully, she shook off the hand and turned her gaze towards the alleyway he was looking at. If she squinted, she could just make out a person lying on the ground.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“It’s a ghoul.”</p><p>Jyn glanced at Andor who never took his gaze off the body, mouth in a thin line, eyes focused. He could have been a great vampire hunter, she thought unbidden. In another life. He had the focus, the self-discipline, the perceptiveness. What a shame.</p><p>Swallowing down the bitterness, she turned her gaze back to the alley.</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Mhmm. I can smell it. Rotten.”</p><p>Oh, then it was a ghoul for certain. They had a particular odor about them. Jyn frowned.</p><p>“What’s it doing?”</p><p>“It… it’s bleeding, I think. I don’t understand…”</p><p>Neither did she. Bleeding? Although ghouls did not possess the self-healing abilities that revenants did, something must have seriously injured the thing for it to be lying on the ground like that.</p><p>Jyn slid her machete out of her coat, her fingers curling around its hilt.</p><p>“Let’s go check it out.”</p><p>They approached the creature slowly, unsure how injured it was, ready for it to strike at any time. But as they drew nearer, the ghoul remained on the ground, completely still. Jyn could now see that its eyes were closed, almost like it was dead. When she glanced at Andor, he gave a tiny shake of his head at her unspoken question. Vampires didn’t have heartbeats but they did breathe, and she was sure Andor could hear it.</p><p>With that in mind, she leaned over the thing but did not crouch down. A male. He looked as they all looked. Their body horribly disfigured, their skin discolored and scarred with burnt or seeping wounds that never healed. Their eyes were usually greyish or pale blue, and some individuals – though not this one – even had razorlike protrusions on their arms. Up close, Jyn could also smell the rotting odor that always accompanied them.</p><p>Though fiends were primitive at best, ghouls displayed even less intelligence. Usually feral, they could be best described as rabid, rotting revenants. The lesser of the vampire species. Even revenants despised them as they saw them as a failure and not true vampires. Mongrels, they were called. Perhaps it was due to their deformity, their meager intelligence, or even how they consumed not just human blood but flesh as well. Corpses were their most common nourishment which meant they could be found in cemeteries at night, otherwise hiding underground, in sewers or caves, during the day.</p><p>Jyn scoffed as she eyed the creature on the ground.</p><p>“Nasty little thing.”</p><p>Andor didn’t answer. When she glanced at him, he seemed sympathizing. Or perhaps, pitying.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you’re sentimental.”</p><p>“Who knows who he was before this?”</p><p>
  <em>Children, friends, family?</em>
</p><p>Jyn turned away. That was true. But she didn’t like to dwell on that. It made killing them harder.</p><p>Besides… whatever he was now, nothing remained of the man he used to be. Ghouls were essentially decaying corpses. There was nothing human about them anymore, and it only took one look to see.</p><p>The ghoul’s eyes snapped open with a shrieking sound and lunged at Jyn.</p><p>She didn’t have time to react. Before she could lift her machete, she could already smell the rotten odor of its mouth a hair’s breadth away from her neck – but it was yanked away, crashing against the opposite wall with a thud.</p><p>For a second, she only stared in disbelief. Andor gave her a brief glance, a split second of their eyes meeting. The sound of blood rushing in her ear drowned out all else.</p><p>The creature was already staggering to its feet, shrieking loudly, – almost in pain? – as it stumbled towards them. Turning away, Andor sank his claws into its chest and yanked out its heart. It fell forward facedown. Dead.</p><p>Heart beating wildly, she tried to compose herself – no, fuck that. A little freak out was allowed. Turning an incredulous look at Andor, she demanded, “What. the. fuck?”</p><p>He didn’t answer for a second, staring at the heart in his hand. More greyish than red, rotting, sunken in. It hadn’t been beating for a while. (Is that what <em>his </em>heart looked like?)</p><p>As if he just realized what he was holding, he dropped it and shook his hand like trying to shake off water. When he finally looked at her, Jyn spread out her arms, demanding:</p><p>“Am I crazy or was it pretending to be dead?”</p><p>If she was right, it would be the second monster today that seemed to display more intelligence than they should. The thought scared her. The ghoul’s plan hadn’t worked because Andor heard his breathing and had fast reflexes, but an ordinary human would have easily fallen prey to its trap.</p><p>“I think it was… luring us.”</p><p>Andor crouched down next to the body and turned it over with his index finger, making sure he was touching the body as little as possible. (Squamish? Disgusted? Or guilty?)</p><p>“Look.”</p><p>He pointed to the thing’s neck which, upon further inspection, was missing a small chunk. Jyn furrowed her eyebrows.</p><p>“Someone… fed on him?”</p><p>It sounded crazy. Revenants feeding on revenants was one thing. To feed on a ghoul, however… She was pretty sure no revenant had the appetite for that. And ghouls had never been known to vandalize each other.</p><p>“Someone,” he agreed. Their eyes met as he looked up, something unquiet in his. “The Beast?”</p><p>It made as much sense as any.</p><p>Jyn threw her hands in the air.</p><p>“I don’t understand what’s happening here.”</p><p>She sounded a little unhinged but he wasn’t paying attention to her small breakdown. Leaning even closer, he poked one finger against the creature’s neck.</p><p>“Looks like he suffered.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes.</p><p>“I’ll be sure to send flowers for his funeral.”</p><p>Standing, Andor’s expression was blank. Despite that, she still felt like he was judging her.</p><p>“You shouldn’t dismiss his pain. Have you ever been bitten?”</p><p>Jyn froze. Her fingers tightened around the machete she was still clutching, trying to focus on the solid feel of it in her palm, the here, the now. She dismissed the memories that threatened to flood her mind – <em>not the right time. Focus. Breathe.</em></p><p>“Yes.” A pause. “I don’t know why people do it for pleasure.”</p><p>“For pleasure?”</p><p>Jyn raised her eyebrows in surprise, a small laugh on her lips. It was almost endearing how clueless he looked, and she was grateful for the shift in mood.</p><p>“Oh, Andor. You have a lot left to learn.”</p><hr/><p>Andor suggested they take the body to one of the Guardians who was a forensic pathologist and would be able to tell them more. Jyn thought that no sane person would be happy to see a vampire and a vampire hunter show up at their doorstop with a decaying corpse after midnight but refrained from mentioning that. They dumped the body in the trunk of Andor’s automobile and set off.</p><p>The house they arrived at looked modest but by no means poor. It was a single-story home with a small front porch, a swing, and a tiny garden populated by all sorts of herbs. Jyn could even spy a hawthorn tree.</p><p>Andor gestured to the back of the automobile.</p><p>“Can you get it?”</p><p>Without waiting for an answer, he walked to the fence to ring the doorbell. Not so gentleman-like, she thought, but she didn’t really mind. She didn’t need to be treated like a lady, she could very well handle carrying a corpse by herself. She almost appreciated that he treated her like he would another man.</p><p>Throwing the body over her shoulder – and grimacing because it was, nevertheless, <em>repugnant</em> – she walked up to the fence just in time to see a man dressed in a robe and a nightcap emerge. He faltered there, his eyes passing over from the dead body to Jyn to Andor.</p><p>“Hey, Kay,” Andor greeted him.</p><p>With a long-suffering sigh on his lips, the man gestured them inside.</p><p>“Well, come in before the neighbors see you.”</p><p>Jyn didn’t need to be told twice, stepping ahead of Andor to make a beeline for the front door.</p><p>“Where do I put it?” she asked Kay who removed his nightcap and waved her along, leading her through the living room. She didn’t pause to look around, too preoccupied with the nasty odor that was beginning to stifle her. Kay procured a key from his night robe and unlocked a door leading downstairs.</p><p>Jyn followed after him to what looked like a small laboratory. A skeleton model in the corner, insects preserved in jars, a bookcase with a small worktable next to it, a magnifying glass, tweezers, and different vials on top. Some of them were empty, some were filled with blood.</p><p>That was all she took in before Kay motioned towards the white table in the middle and she placed the corpse on top, glad to be rid of it. Andor was just behind her, gesturing between her and Kay as she grabbed a cloth from her pocket and wiped her hands.</p><p>“Kay, this is Jyn Erso, Erso, this is Kay Tuesso.”</p><p>Jyn had heard of him in passing from other Guardians – the forensic pathologist who had a particular interest in the anatomy and functioning of ghouls. In the lamplight, Jyn took a closer look at him, assessing him just as he assessed her.</p><p>A tall man, wiry frame, short-cropped blonde hair. Light blue eyes, a square-shaped face. Just an average Londoner. Looking at him, you never would guess his secret hobby.</p><p>“Jyn Erso.” He spoke first. “I’ve heard of you.”</p><p>She smirked. “I should hope so.”</p><p>But Tuesso didn’t seem impressed, jerking his head towards Andor.</p><p>“Tell me something. Isn’t your organization supposed to protect people like him?”</p><p>The smile slipped off her face. Tuesso had lined up his shot and hit the bullseye.</p><p>“Kay,” Andor murmured, his tone tired but carrying a hint of warning.</p><p>Tuesso didn’t listen as he carried on, “He was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die like that.”</p><p>
  <em>Did anyone?</em>
</p><p>Jyn looked away for a second, fighting hard to keep her expression under control. <em>So many failed victims, throats ripped out, eyes unseeing, lying motionless on the ground… So many killed, so many dead.</em></p><p>She put all those memories, all those nightmares into a box and shut the lid. When she looked back, she was casual again.</p><p>“You two knew each other?” she wondered, the only question she was able to ask.</p><p>Andor jumped at the chance to change the subject.</p><p>“We were friends before…”</p><p>“Before his <em>accident</em>,” Tuesso completed.</p><p>“We served together in France. I had no idea about his special interest when I was a human,” Andor explained. “But after my transition, Kay was the one who introduced me to the Alliance.”</p><p>“How lucky for you,” she deadpanned. Friends in high places.</p><p>And he truly was lucky – abandoned by his maker like that, he never would have made it on his own.</p><p>“So,” Tuesso nodded at the corpse on the table. “Why did you bring a deceased ghoul to my house?”</p><hr/><p>Andor explained what had happened and Jyn watched as Tuesso’s frown deepened with each revelation. It seemed that even he wasn’t able to make heads or tails of everything. After their story, Tuesso put on white gloves and retrieved a tweezer to carefully inspect the creature’s throat. A few minutes passed in silence, Jyn rhythmically tapping her foot against the floor while she and Andor waited.</p><p>After what felt like forever, she leaned towards Andor, whispering, “Think he will be able to tell us what’s going on?”</p><p>He shrugged. “Kay is very informed about ghouls,” was his only response. Not helpful.</p><p>Tuesso took a blood sample from the wound and filled it in a vial, placing it on his desk. Finally, he took off his gloves and turned towards them.</p><p>“The wound is strange but not consistent with ghoul teeth marks. The puncture wounds resemble a revenant’s or even a fiend’s fangs. There’s nothing else physically strange about the body but I will analyze the blood sample and let you know if I find out anything.”</p><p>Andor nodded once but Jyn felt a little unsatisfied. She knew Tuesso couldn’t immediately have all the answers but they were pressed for time, pressed to figure this out as soon as possible and save as many as possible. This night ended with more questions than answers.</p><p>“Do you think it’s possible they’re gaining sentience?”</p><p>Tuesso shrugged. “Yesterday, I would have said no.”</p><p>“Well, do you think it’s possible this is happening to other ghouls?”</p><p>All the people who could be hurt because of it…</p><p>Tuesso gave her a cool look. “I believe that falls under your job description.”</p><p>Fucking hell. Unchecked ghouls on top of the Beast… they had to be connected, right?</p><p>“Kay, thank you. We’ll go now,” Andor told him, trying to appease them both. To her, “Come on, hunter. I’ll take you home.”</p><p>After the night they endured, she didn’t protest. Andor would know where she lived but if he wanted to hurt her, he was more likely to do it while they were working together. And she wasn't about to invite him in either.</p><p>Tuesso called after them as they began to ascend the stairs.</p><p>“Cassian.” Turning back, Jyn noted that he seemed almost concerned. “She’s Saw Gerrera’s daughter. She’s a fanatic. Are you sure you want to work with her?”</p><p>“I’m right here.” She waved her hands.</p><p>Andor just smiled. “She’s all I got.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lots of into in this chapter. If you have any questions, let me know, I'll try my best to answer them unless it's too spoilery. There's just so much to cover and so little time, this chapter was already getting long.</p><p>Also! I've been learning lots of interesting facts while researching stuff for this story, so I thought I'd share for anybody interested:<br/>- Flamethrowers were invented in 1901 in Germany and it was first used in 1915 in World War I by German soldiers against the French. The English word comes from the German name <i>'Flammenwerfer'.</i><br/>- Five shillings in 1920 was worth roughly as much as 7.26 pounds or 9.97 dollars today (this calculation was done according to 2017 data because I couldn't find more recent calculators but I figured it was close enough)<br/>- Interestingly, people didn't need to take driving tests to drive in Britain until 1935, whereas France introduced it as early as 1899. Driving licenses were introduced in 1903 for which people had to pay five shillings. Driving tests were also suspended in 1939 during World War II and resumed in 1946.</p><p>Thanks for reading! Find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Way Normal People Die</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kay has results, and Jyn and Cassian have an argument.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is two days late because of Easter but I didn't want to miss an entire week so have a Thursday update instead &lt;3</p><p>This chapter is more lowkey after the last one, at least in the sense that there's less plot and more character/relationship development (because lbr, that's what we're here for, right?)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Cassian tried to shake off his stalker. Although he picked up his pace, his limp – a leg injury he gained during the war – made it impossible to move fast. But he wasn’t trying to outrun the man. Instead, he changed his course and turned left, leading the man away from his home. At the right moment, he took another sharp turn down an alleyway without lighting and pressed himself up against the wall next to a dumpster. Shrouded in darkness. Then he waited.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Just as he suspected, his pursuer followed shortly after, heading straight down the street without looking in his direction. Cassian waited a full minute to make sure he was gone before turning back to the illuminated street he came from and heading in the opposite direction. But he didn’t relax. His senses were on high alert as he periodically glanced behind his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nothing could have prepared him for the man who stood in front of him when he looked back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassian almost crashed into his chest before staggering backwards. Impossible.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>How –</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The man gave him a patronizing smile. His eyes, a piercing blue, were chillingly cold. Cassian’s heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t scared of a lot but this wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right. He’d seen evil before, and this wasn’t evil.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This was the absence of anything good.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Did you think you could outsmart me?” his stalker asked, his voice smooth as marble. Pleasant, even, if he wasn’t so terrifying.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was something unnatural about this man. Something unholy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He gave a comically nonchalant shrug.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A good effort, I’ll give you that. The mistress is going to love you.” He stepped closer, his eyes fluttering closed as he sniffed at the air. A sound of satisfaction escaped his lips. “Mhmm. And I’ll have a nice meal on top of it.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>While he was talking, Cassian had managed to curl his hand around the knife he kept in his back pocket. He knew he only had one shot. He couldn’t run with his limp, and this man – </em>
</p><p>
  <em>This man materialized in front of him out of thin air. This man wasn’t right. Cassian had the foreboding feeling that he couldn’t win a fight against him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He lunged forward and thrust his knife into his stalker’s stomach. It slid in easily, painting the white shirt red as blood flowed from the wound and stained Cassian’s hand.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The man didn’t even blink. He didn’t stagger, gasp, or fall to his knees in agony.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He just raised his eyebrows.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You continue to impress. Unfortunately, you’re going to regret doing that.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This couldn’t be possible. How was he still standing, how was he still talking?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassian hadn’t aimed to spare his life. He’d stabbed the man in the gut – he should be gurgling on blood right now.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wrong, it was all wrong. This felt wrong. The man –</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He wasn’t human.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, but don’t worry.” His stalker smiled, the moonlight glinting off his teeth. They seemed sharper than a normal person’s. “You’ll thank me one day. A little pain is the price for the gift I'm about to give you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He opened his mouth and bit him.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Cassian woke with a strangled scream on his lips. If he had a heartbeat, he was sure it’d be racing as he sat up and tried to gather his bearings. Deep breaths. Count to ten. Don’t let it consume you.</p><p>The memory of his death still fresh on his mind, he looked at the clock on the wall. It was a little after eight which meant he still had time before he was bound to pick up Erso. Good, he thought as his stomach stirred with hunger.</p><p>He wanted to feed first.</p><hr/><p>He arrived at the Organa’s mansion some twenty minutes later where they agreed to meet that night. Erso still didn’t want him to pick her up from her own home, and the mansion was located much closer to Kay’s residence than the Guardian’s headquarters. For Cassian, it also made feeding easier.</p><p>Eddie greeted him at the front door, good-natured as ever. He didn’t try to take his coat which was an improvement from the usual.</p><p>“Good evening, sir. Miss Erso isn’t here yet. Do you want me to find Miss Clara for you?”</p><p>Cassian would have flushed red if he was capable of it. God almighty, even the footman knew he was here for dinner. He wondered what it was that gave him away, if there was something in his eyes or on his face that revealed his hunger. After years of service, one might grow accustomed to the typical signs.</p><p>Unspeakably embarrassed, Cassian gave a curt nod.</p><p>“Please. Thank you.”</p><p>Eddie remained cheerful.</p><p>“It’s not a problem, sir. I’ll send her to the parlor. You may wait inside.”</p><p>Cassian had barely settled down on the couch before Leia appeared with a gust of air, fluttering the papers on the coffee table. Such speed was another thing he wasn’t fully capable of yet. He had used it to save Erso the other day but that was pure instinct. For his part, he still preferred to walk at a normal, human pace.</p><p>He supposed it took time or practice. Or maybe the absence of humanity. The less human, the more vampiric, the more powerful you were? He wasn’t sure.</p><p>Leia sat down in the armchair on his left.</p><p>“Dinner?” she inquired with a twinkling smile.</p><p>Cassian’s self-deprecating sigh was answer enough. It was a good thing she didn’t take offense. Leia was sure he would grow into his vampirism someday.</p><p>“You are but a baby revenant, Cassian,” she told him one time. “You’ll see that even we have life cycles like humans. You are only at the beginning of yours.”</p><p>Cassian didn’t want to doubt her; after all, what was his self-hatred to her infinite knowledge of their kind? Still, some part of him shuddered at the idea that feeding on humans would ever feel natural.</p><p>“How is your investigation going?” Leia asked now, thankfully dropping the topic of food.</p><p>Cassian groaned, pressing two fingers against his temple. It was confusing to even think about. He’d already reported the recent developments to the council, but even the elder vampires were at a loss.</p><p>“Not good, Leia. This feels bigger than we thought.”</p><p>She hummed in agreement. No doubt she’d already heard the details from her father.</p><p>“And Erso? How are you two getting along?”</p><p>He gave her a humorless smile.</p><p>“She doesn’t want to kill me, I suppose.”</p><p><em>Not yet</em>, he added in his head as he recalled their little deal.</p><p>“That’s good. Cooperation with the hunters is more crucial than ever. I hope you know that you’re doing very important work for us, Cassian.”</p><p>“No pressure,” he muttered without bite.</p><p>They had put a lot of trust in a newborn, it was true. His appointment was strategic. It was a gesture of goodwill and a chance to prove himself. Lady Mothma had also suspected that a newborn from the working class might be less irritating to Erso than an elder aristocratic vampire (though Cassian wasn’t so sure about that.) But he knew Leia had personally vouched for him herself, and he hated to think that he might let her down if they didn’t catch the Beast.</p><p>She wanted him to believe that he belonged with them. But, if he was honest, Cassian was envious. The Organas were a family. He had no family anymore, and he never would. Vampires were unchanging, frozen in time for eternity. They could not reproduce, and though Bail and Breha had found a loophole through adoption, not everyone was so lucky.</p><p>Before the war, he had hoped to find a wife one day. Someone to love, someone to be his partner. Someone who might give him children. Not because it was expected of them, but because they wanted it. They would love them and raise them right.</p><p>After the war, he began to doubt whether he was capable of being anyone’s husband or father. Whether he deserved a family at all. But it wasn’t until he became a vampire that the choice was entirely ripped away from him. Not even the possibility remained, should he change his mind one day. It was already decided for him.</p><p>The weight of his losses was stifling. Sometimes, he felt like he was on a sinking ship, climbing higher and higher as the water rose, engulfing everything he ever loved. Until it eventually engulfed him too.</p><p>Interrupted, the door opened and Miss Clara walked in. Leia rose and gave him a polite nod.</p><p>“<em>Bon appétit,</em>” she told him, gently squeezing Clara’s shoulder in passing as she left. Cassian tried to focus on his hunger and not on his revulsion as Clara approached him.</p><p>Clara was… his personal blood supply. It felt wrong to think it. But he had no better description as <em>human food </em>didn’t seem particularly respectful either. The Alliance operated on a consent and fee-based system. Each vampire had one, sometimes two people – usually servants – they would feed on in exchange for payment.</p><p>When Cassian was turned, Leia had found him Clara, a young maid who was already working at the mansion. He supposed it was better than preying on unsuspecting, unwilling victims on the streets, but it just felt a little… dirty. Almost clinical.</p><p>“What about animals?” Cassian had wondered.</p><p>Leia gave a theatrical shudder.</p><p>“Have you ever eaten ash? It tastes like that.”</p><p>Cassian didn’t say anything. He thought he might prefer the animals regardless, but Leia was so confident that it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. He ought to fit in, right? When in Rome…</p><p>Perhaps someday, when he didn’t depend on the kindness of the Organa’s, <em>someday,</em> he could try to feed on animals instead. For now, he tried to remind himself that the money Clara earned with this went into caring for her elderly mother, and well… he knew how much difference even a penny could make.</p><p>So that was how he rationalized it. He was helping her. (Never mind that the Organas were the ones paying for this too.)</p><p>Clara sat down on the couch, close enough that their knees touched. There was no room for modesty between them. What he did was already more intimate than polite conversation allowed. Not to mention, he quickly realized that when done right, feeding could be quite… pleasant for the human. Although his personal experience was different, their venom apparently gave them an almost euphoric feeling.</p><p>“There’s no reason for it to hurt or for the human to die,” Leia had explained. “No vampire is capable of fully draining someone in one feeding. We don’t drink that much. When a human dies, it’s because the bite is messy. We tear an artery and it never stops bleeding. We bite a chunk out of their neck. But if you’re careful, it’s a very clean process.”</p><p>So Cassian learned how to be careful and he realized Leia was right. Clara never seemed uncomfortable or in pain. He’d even heard stories of humans who… climaxed during feeding. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened, but he had to tactfully ignore the fact that he could smell Clara’s arousal every time.</p><p>He supposed that was what Erso meant the other night, though he hadn’t realized vampires and humans had intimate relationships with each other. In hindsight, that had been naïve of him. Perhaps his first meeting with a vampire had tarnished his opinion for good, but he couldn’t imagine why anyone would trust a vampire to be their lover. Feeding was already dangerous, but to use it as a sexual toy…</p><p>What if they lost their self-control? What if the human died? It seemed like a foolish risk to take.</p><p>Clara unbuttoned her blouse to expose her neck. She was a short, pale woman in her late twenties with auburn-colored hair and forest green eyes. As he stared at the pulsing vein in her throat, the image of Erso swam before his eyes. He blinked.</p><p>Cassian had never interacted with Clara outside of feeding as it made him too uncomfortable, but he knew she was soft-spoken and kind. The opposite of Erso, except for her stature and the color of her eyes. There was no reason for him to be thinking of her.</p><p>Of course, he had a vague idea why he was, but he refused to entertain that line of thought. <em>You’re treading on thin ice, Andor, if she fucking knew about this…</em></p><p>
  <em>Then what? She’s already going to kill you, she’d promised.</em>
</p><p>“Are you ready?” he asked Clara. She gave a nod and that was all the permission he needed to sink his fangs into her neck.</p><p>A quiet moan left her lips. The first second was always the worst before the taste of blood swallowed his shame. He heard nothing after that, not even the soft whimpering noises he knew she was making. Her body went limp, falling back against the green cushions. For what felt like an eternity, Cassian knew nothing but the soft warm blood in his mouth.</p><p>What brought him out of his stupor was the parlor door opening and a loud gasp in the quiet room. Cassian pulled away. His first instinct was animalistic anger at being interrupted. Without even thinking about it, he turned his head and hissed at the newcomer. A territorial noise he’d never made before, hadn’t known he was capable of. </p><p>Then he saw Jyn Erso’s wide, angry eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, shit.</em>
</p><p>Like a cord was cut, he immediately snapped out of his trance and sat up. His stomach in knots, he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth. Meanwhile eyeing Erso as she stood there, her eyes thunderous, her hands curled into fists. Oh, she was furious. The red of her cheeks said as much.</p><p>Behind her, Eddie hurried into the room. His face was red as well, but in embarrassment, not fury.</p><p>“I’m sorry, sir, I tried to stop her –”</p><p>Cassian waved his hand. It wasn’t his fault. Jyn Erso did what Jyn Erso wanted; Eddie could have hardly stopped her. It was just a shame that this was the scene she had to witness.</p><p>Clara sat up as well, a little dazed, as she usually was. Erso still hadn’t said anything but Cassian could see her gaze linger on the hazy look in Clara’s eyes, the puncture wounds on her neck, her open blouse, her flushed skin, her heaving chest. If not for the blood, it would have looked like they were doing something entirely different, and Erso almost looked embarrassed by it.</p><p>“I –” Clara began but Cassian lay a gentle hand on her arm. She was flustered as well, and Cassian didn’t want her here to witness Erso’s ire.</p><p>“It’s okay, Clara, you can go. Thank you. Go rest.”</p><p>Clara didn’t need to be told twice. She nodded and quickly hurried out of the room, Eddie following behind her, closing the door. Leaving him alone with Erso.</p><p>Cassian stood and crossed his arms, unintimated. He refused to be judged by <em>her</em>. Didn’t he already judge himself enough?</p><p>“Ever heard of knocking, Erso?” he asked, his voice cold. Her face contorted in anger.</p><p>“Are you kidding me? You’re here, feeding on that poor girl –”</p><p>“She’s completely unharmed.”</p><p>“Oh, I saw how much she enjoyed it,” Erso threw out like it was dirt.</p><p>And why did it even bother her? Cassian stilled, giving her a closer look. She was flushed and breathless – in anger, no doubt. But her eyes were dark and blown wide and… <em>Oh. Huh.</em></p><p>That was… new. He dropped his eyes to the ground, now flustered as well.</p><p>“I’m a vampire.” His voice was quieter, calmer. “How did you think I was feeding?”</p><p>“I wasn’t thinking about it.”</p><p>Cassian shrugged.</p><p>“That’s not my problem.”</p><p>From the corner of his eyes, he saw Erso deflate and shake her head.</p><p>“Let’s just go.”</p><p>She turned away, refusing to look at him anymore.</p><p>What a great way to start the night. An argument before they even began.</p><hr/><p>The car ride was quiet. They weren’t the chatty type to begin with, but this was a tense silence. She didn’t even look at him or try to discuss the case. Andor was irritable, for whatever reason, (weren’t vampires supposed to be calmer after feeding?) and she was trying not to think about what had transpired back at the mansion. If she remembered the sight of him feeding on that girl, she wasn’t sure she could stand to be around him.</p><p>She knew, in theory, that the Alliance was feeding on people, but seeing it was different. It came like a shock of cold water to remember what he truly was. <em>Parasite. </em>And then he had the nerve to hiss at her like – like –</p><p>Like a fucking <em>cat</em>. Outraged at the interruption when <em>he</em> was the one leeching on some poor girl.</p><p>(And yet, the girl had clearly enjoyed it; more than that, she had been excited. The image of her pressed between the couch and Andor’s body, his mouth on her neck, haunted Jyn. The sound of his angry hiss, red eyes flashing, blood dripping from his mouth…)</p><p>Blinking, she realized they’d arrived. Jyn released her necklace that she’d been clutching. The pendant left a cross-shaped indent in her palm.</p><p>Stepping out of the car, they remained silent as they walked up to the front gate. Tuesso greeted them in regular clothes this time, though the mistrust in his gaze when he looked at her hadn’t ebbed. The Guardians were neutral by nature, but this one had clearly made up his mind about her anyway. Was it loyalty to Andor or a natural preference towards vampires? It didn’t matter that much, though she was curious to hear what he considered so <em>fanatic </em>about her. She was working with them, wasn’t she?</p><p>Tuesso led them to the living room this time, settling on an armchair. Jyn sat on the couch opposite of him, as far away from Andor as possible. She didn’t look at him but she could see his rigid posture from the corner of her eyes, hands in his lap, his back ramrod straight. Tuesso raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.</p><p>“Tea?” he asked, his voice cool.</p><p>Jyn rolled her eyes. She didn’t think he’d actually serve her tea if she asked.</p><p>“Get to the point. Did you find anything in the blood sample?”</p><p>“Obviously, or I wouldn’t have asked you to come,” he retorted, matching her hostility. Andor didn’t try to intervene this time.</p><p>Tuesso turned to him, speaking more to him than her.</p><p>“The blood didn’t match the blood composition of a regular ghoul. It contained an unknown element that I couldn’t identify.”</p><p>Jyn frowned and glanced at Andor despite herself. He was leaning forward in his seat, a troubled look in his eyes.</p><p>“What does that mean?”</p><p>“I have no idea.” Tuesso sighed. He seemed like the type of man who always had an answer, and this failure seemed to frustrate him. “I suppose it would explain why he didn’t act like an average ghoul. Truth be told, his blood composition almost resembled that of a revenant’s. Like a midpoint between the two.”</p><p>“So they’re evolving,” Jyn said, a question posed as a statement. Tuesso looked back at her.</p><p>“I don’t know what’s happening to them. If they’re evolving, devolving, or transforming. If it’s a natural process, if it was just this individual. But this one was altered, that I can say.”</p><p>Jyn rubbed her temple, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her head fucking hurt. It was too much.</p><p>Andor’s voice was detached when he answered. “Thank you, Kay.”</p><hr/><p>Outside Tuesso’s house, Andor stopped and turned to her. Jyn faltered. It was the first time he met her gaze since their confrontation earlier, and her heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t bothered with contacts yet, and the red was both terrifying and heartbreaking.</p><p>“I suppose we can ask the question,” he began, his tone strictly professional, “if ghouls are evolving, could fiends be as well?”</p><p>Jyn took a deep breath to contain herself. The urge to scream was strong. She felt damn near defeated.</p><p>Andor’s red eyes, the memory of his bloody mouth, the ghoul’s decaying heart in his hand, Tuesso’s cold cynicism, the mangled victims on the photographs, John Evans’ haunted expression.</p><p>How was she supposed to hunt a sentient fiend?</p><p>“God help us if they are,” she muttered, more to herself than him. “I don’t want to live in a world where monsters rule us all.”</p><p>“Monsters,” he echoed. His voice was still detached but she could see the cold fury in his gaze. “That’s all we are to you, right?”</p><p>Was he really going to start that argument with her right here, right now?</p><p>She ought not to be surprised. He’d been on edge since their quarrel earlier, since their first meeting. It was no shock his ferocious self-control would slip one day. She tended to have that effect on people.</p><p>Jyn let out a small, bitter laugh.</p><p>“You saw what the Beast did. You saw the photographs. Don’t question <em>my </em>morals. You wonder why I hunt them?” She threw out her arms, her voice rising in volume with each sentence. “Creatures like the Beast is why!”</p><p>Andor shook his head.</p><p>“I didn’t say every vampire is innocent. But we all deserve a chance to live and do good. You’re too blinded by personal vendetta to see that not all of us are evil.”</p><p>A roll of her eyes, Jyn gave him a condescending look. He was so young. So naïve.</p><p>A personal vendetta? Sure. Did she have a personal vendetta against vampires? Maybe.</p><p>They did kill her mother and take her father.</p><p>But she’d been studying these things since she was eight and killing them since she was twelve. She’d seen enough to know what she was talking about. Eventually, one day… they all snapped.</p><p>And Andor thought he knew better than the years of experience she collected? He was, what, two, three, four months old? He was thrust into this world, but she was <em>born </em>in it.</p><p>“You say that because your humanity hasn’t burned out yet.”</p><p>“And what if it won’t?” he countered.</p><p>Jyn turned away with a dismissive wave of her hand, heading towards the passenger seat. She was done with this conversation.</p><p>But apparently, he wasn’t.</p><p>“Will you just start treating me like an actual person?” he called after her, his voice rising too.</p><p>She wheeled back in the middle of the road. He was angry, not at himself, but at <em>her</em>, perhaps for the first time since she’d known him.</p><p>“You fed on someone today,” she said, appalled. “You sucked out her blood. People shouldn’t be capable of doing things like that. <em>You</em> <em>are not people</em>.”</p><p>“So that’s what you think?”</p><p>In a blink of a second, Andor was standing in front of her, so close their chests nearly touched. He showed more anger – no, he showed more <em>emotion</em> than she’d ever seen him. Red eyes blazing, alive with a fire she didn’t know he was capable of.</p><p>She could have reached for her blade but she wasn’t scared. She just snorted and gestured between them, at the way he just appeared in front of her.</p><p>“You’re proving my point.”</p><p>Andor’s expression melted into disappointment. That, at last, gave her pause.</p><p>He was <em>disappointed?</em></p><p>“Kay was right,” he murmured. “I was a victim too. Maybe not the Beast’s. Maybe I didn’t die permanently, the way normal people die. But it still matters.”</p><p>He began slowly, calmly. He sounded almost matter-of-fact. But Jyn felt like she was knocked off her feet. Heart in her throat, she listened, attentive, to what he had to say.</p><p>“And that night, <em>you </em>weren’t there.”</p><p>There it was. That underlying resentment. His eyes were burning again, his words hitting exactly where it hurt.</p><p>“None of you were. I was stalked, attacked, and violently murdered. I was a person one day, and then I wasn’t. So if your fucking job is to protect people, then why the hell weren’t any of you there to do that? Where were you then? Where were your people?”</p><p>He took a deep breath. His mouth twisted into a bitter smile, his eyes an accusation. Jyn was scarcely breathing.</p><p>“Your precious Partisans failed me as it failed so many others. It failed my sister.”</p><p>The last bit was quieter. His eyes shuttered as soon as he realized what he said, like a wall rebuilt in front of her eyes. He pulled back, almost regretful, training his gaze towards the ground.</p><p>Her confusion was the only thing that pushed through her shame to ask, “Your sister?”</p><p>What had happened to his sister?</p><p>Andor shook his head, his voice defeated when he answered.</p><p>“Let’s just go.”</p><p>Without waiting for a response, he turned and headed towards the automobile. Jyn remained rooted to the spot, guilt churning in her chest.</p><p>She called after him.</p><p>“<em>Cassian</em>.”</p><p>He stilled but didn’t turn. Had she ever said his first name aloud before? It tasted strange on her tongue. It was just a name, yet it held so much weight. Andor put distance between them, but Cassian… <em>Cassian </em>felt intimate, felt personal.</p><p>Jyn hesitated, the words burning her throat. He was right, Tuesso was right. He was failed by each and every member of the Partisans who’d sworn to protect people, including her.</p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry.</em>
</p><p>She swallowed it back and walked to the automobile.</p><p>“Take me home.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun fact for this chapter: blood banks were invented in 1932 and blood bags were invented in the 50s, so that's not really an option for vampires just yet.</p><p>I'm not sure if it's just me but I was starting to feel like Cassian's story is more in focus than Jyn's so if you're wondering why, the first half is definitely more his story/background. The second half will be Jyn's, focusing more on her and her past instead.</p><p>Also, if you're interested in a fluffy AU for this verse where Jyn and Cassian are already together and Cassian can turn into a bat, I wrote a short ficlet <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30446526">here</a> &lt;3</p><p>Thanks for reading! Find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Perfect Species</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Problems keep piling up as Jyn talks to Chrirrut and Baze, and the Beast makes a new kill...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'll be honest, this chapter has the least amount of Cassian or Rebelcaptain interaction in the entire story, but they needed some time apart. It's pretty relevant to the plot however and offers some insight to Jyn's life, so I hope you enjoy regardless.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jyn was running but it seemed like she’d never arrive at her destination.</p><p>She’d been running for a long time. All around her, the scenery never changed; the long hallway lined with red wallpaper seemed to stretch on and on with no end in sight. On the wall, portraits hanging, showcasing all her failures. Everyone she couldn’t save. Everyone she let down. Their faces contorted in anger, their eyes hateful as they watched her pass by.</p><p>Then, <em>finally,</em> a door. Jyn picked up her pace, renewed hope in her heart.</p><p>This was a dream. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she recognized that. She’d been here before, and it always went the same. She was running, she was trying to save someone, but she couldn’t get there in time. When she opened the door, she would see her mother lying on the floor with her throat ripped out.</p><p>Except this time, the door led to a cobbled street. Jyn faltered in surprise but stepped through.</p><p>A body lay a few feet ahead, illuminated by the harsh yellow light of the lamp posts. A quick look around told her that she was alone. Dread began building in her chest, her feet like lead as she dragged herself closer. She didn’t want to see, didn’t want to confront it. Deep down, she knew what she would find.</p><p>
  <em>Where were you then? Where were your people?</em>
</p><p>Jyn looked down at the corpse of Cassian Andor, brutally murdered and abandoned like a broken toy. He’d died with his eyes open, brown orbs now staring into nothing. Blood trickling from the wound in his neck, staining the ground red.</p><p>Her heart squeezed. She was too late.</p><p>But as regret brought tears to her eyes, his head turned. Jyn almost jumped back, watching as the brown of his irises shifted into a bright, furious red.</p><p>“Where were you? Why didn’t you save me?” he asked, and his voice seemed to echo around her.</p><p>Jyn watched, frozen in horror, as he stood and began to amble towards her. There was something terribly inhumane in his movements, in the way he stumbled more than walked. His eyes were dead and devoid of emotion.</p><p>He didn’t seem like a man who’d come back from the dead – more a reanimated corpse controlled by an unseen power.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she gasped as he gained ground on her. She couldn’t seem to make herself move, paralyzed by guilt. “I’m so sorry.”</p><p>He was close enough to touch now, his mouth opening, and Jyn got a glance at his sharp teeth before he sank them into her neck.</p><p>She woke with a short scream, her hand flying to her throat. Where she’d been bitten once, where her mother had been bitten, and where Cassian, no doubt, had been bitten too.</p><p>
  <em>Dream, it was just a dream. Just a dream.</em>
</p><p>And yet not quite. Because he had been killed, that was true, and she hadn’t been able to stop it, that was also true. What Cassian had said to her last night echoed in her brain, lodged under her skin like a splinter.</p><p>
  <em>Where were you then? Where were your people?</em>
</p><p>Jyn let her hand fall, heart still racing. Her subconscious was a bitch.</p>
<hr/><p>At eight p.m., Jyn was in her office, drinking coffee, her mood bleak. Like a vampire, she woke at sundown and went to sleep at dawn. Not much sunlight for her either, these days; sometimes, she wondered about the long-term consequences of such a lifestyle.</p><p>If there was a long-term for her at all. Vampire hunters didn’t have a long lifespan. Either you died or you got out. Only a few made it to old age in this profession, and Saw had been one of those rare exceptions.</p><p>Surprisingly, leaving was more common than dying. The Partisans weren’t a prison, they didn’t keep anyone against their will. Most of the members were volunteers. Most of them had real proper jobs in the daylight. Most stuck around long enough to satisfy whatever thirst for revenge drove them to hunt in the first place, then found a wife (or husband, depending) and left to start a family. Jyn couldn’t blame them. Those who remained were typically torn apart by a rabid ghoul one starry night. Who would want to have that kind of life prospects?</p><p>But she had no illusions about a man coming in to sweep her off her feet and rescue her from this life. Nor did she want it to happen. <em>This </em>was her life. If she was lucky, she might make it to be one of those rare exceptions like Saw. If not, well… that was fine too. She’d go out taking down some vampires along the way.</p><p>But daylight. Jyn squinted out her window, absentminded. She missed existing in daylight. She couldn’t remember the last time she woke with the sun like a normal person.</p><p>
  <em>Wonder if that’s how Cassian feels –</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Stop. Stop feeling sorry for him.</em>
</p><p>Jyn took a sip of her coffee and tried to banish Cassian Andor from her thoughts.</p><p>It hadn’t always been like this. Normally, they operated on a rotation system. Three days on patrol when she would sleep during the day and wake at night. Three days off when she would sleep at night and wake in the morning.</p><p>Now, with the Beast, there was no off-time. They needed every available pair of hands, and she was always on call if something happened. If she was honest, it was starting to take a toll on her health – mentally and physically. Her headaches were more frequent and her sleep was less peaceful. When she was awake, she always felt on edge, like an incoming disaster could hit at any time.</p><p>But she couldn’t let it get to her. There was time to relax after. After they caught the Beast. After Andor was no longer in her life.</p><p>
  <em>Because you will have killed him, because he asked and you agreed.</em>
</p><p>The thought didn’t feel as satisfying as she thought it would.</p><p>A knock on the door interrupted her reverie. Jyn called out, “Come in.”</p><p>She sat up straighter, expecting to see Baze and Chirrut since they had scheduled a meeting for today. But it was Maia who walked in and plopped down in the chair in front of her.</p><p>“We have a problem,” she announced with a grave expression. Jyn groaned.</p><p>“No more problems, Maia, I can’t handle more problems right now.”</p><p>“Oscar and Billy just walked out,” Maia continued like she hadn’t heard Jyn’s words.</p><p>“Are you serious?”</p><p>“Said this is not what they signed up for and they aren’t going to risk their lives searching for the Beast. Some of the others looked like they agreed. I think more might follow.”</p><p>Jyn slammed a hand on the desk, growling under her breath, “<em>Fuckers.</em>”</p><p>They were understaffed as it was. But what did she expect? Half of their members were ex-soldiers with varying degrees of psychological issues who needed an outlet. The other half were here to exact revenge for the death of their loved ones. The result being that most of them cared more about killing vampires than saving innocent people. Now that it looked like they were losing, what was in it for them anymore?</p><p>No income, no glory. Why would anyone stay unless they truly cared?</p><p>“Maia, we need men.”</p><p>It was not just the Beast. It was the ghouls too. Whatever Tuesso’s discovery meant, it spelled trouble for the future.</p><p>“They don’t like that you’re keeping secrets,” Maia said.</p><p>“They don’t like that I’m a woman either.”</p><p>Snide comments from day one, insubordination, lack of respect. She fucking hated leading the Partisans.</p><p>But Saw had specifically left it to her and giving up felt like failing him. It felt like admitting to every single man who doubted her that they were right. She wasn’t capable of leading them. She wasn’t good enough to do it.</p><p>Jyn knew a woman was just as capable of leading them as a man, <em>she </em>just didn’t want to. That was not how they would see it, though. So she persisted. Even at her lowest, even at her wit’s end, she persisted.</p><p>But she was so tired.</p><p>“Write to Cambridge and Manchester,” she began, “see if they have anyone to spare. Write to Edinburgh. Hell, write to New York if you have to.”</p><p>They had organizations all over the world. It was not the perfect solution, but at least they’d gain a few temporary hunters to help them. Last year, she sent some of her men to Scotland when a local group was dealing with an outbreak of ghouls. It was time to return the favor.</p><p>“And tell the others to keep an eye out for anyone who might be recruited,” she added. “Friends, family, drinking buddies, I don’t care. Anyone who can be convinced.”</p><p>Another long shot but it was all they had.Training new recruits took months, but it was something.</p><p>Maia nodded, standing. But as she looked at Jyn, something gave her pause.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>Jyn raised her eyes to her, unsure what to say. <em>No, I’m not. The Beast is still out there, ghouls are evolving, and my partner is rightfully furious with me. I don’t know how to find a middle ground with him and I think I’m failing. I’m failing all of you. I can’t do this alone. </em></p><p>She was spared from answering when there was another knock on the door, and Chirrut and Baze stepped in. Jyn gave Maia a faint smile and nodded.</p><p>“Yes, you can go. Thanks, Maia.”</p>
<hr/><p>After serving Baze with tea and Chirrut with coffee, Jyn sat back down at her desk and let out a weary sigh.</p><p>“What’s wrong, little sister?” Baze asked.</p><p>“Everything.”</p><p>For a second, she felt compelled to share her woes with someone but shook her head instead. She was not here to complain, she had important matters to discuss.</p><p>“During our investigation with Cass – with Andor, we made some troubling discoveries. We came across a ghoul who seemed to possess more intelligence than usual. He set a trap for us. He pretended to be dead. And get this.”</p><p>Jyn paused, remembering John Evans’ testimony.</p><p>“According to the first witness, the Beast can turn into a bat.”</p><p>“A fiend,” Baze concluded.</p><p>“Yes. Except… what fiend is smart enough to evade the police <em>and</em> hunters? What fiend hunts in a city to begin with? What fiend leaves behind clues on purpose like the roses?”</p><p>Neither man said anything. Jyn blew out a breath, rubbing two fingers against her forehead.</p><p>“It has to be connected, right? The Beast and the ghouls? Maybe… Andor and I thought that maybe fiends and ghouls evolving. Do you think that’s possible?”</p><p>Baze raised a cynical eyebrow. “At the same time?”</p><p>She shrugged. It seemed far-fetched, yes. But what other explanation was there?</p><p>Chirrut let out a weary sigh. Jyn’s eyes snapped to him. He seemed more serious than she’d ever seen him.</p><p>“Evolution, it’s possible. Fiends and ghouls are the result of evolution, or rather, mutation. But Baze is right, the timing is strange. Unless…”</p><p>She raised an eyebrow as he stopped to think, waiting with bated breath.</p><p>“Unless this mutation is not natural. What if it’s artificial?”</p><p>A pause. An old memory stirred in her brain but didn’t take root yet.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“You know that Guardians are meant to study and keep a record of vampires. But some of us take it a step further. For centuries, we’ve debated about the possibility of genetic mutation. Experiments, sometimes highly unethical, were carried out. Some of us even tried to create a cure.”</p><p>Jyn swallowed. She always thought the notion of a cure was ridiculous. But Chirrut seemed far from joking, and it almost made her wonder.</p><p>“Stories say a man named Edward Norwich had come close but there had never been any proof. Nevertheless, it’s a question that arises from time to time. Whether we’re supposed to intervene or just observe. Over the centuries, many of us had attempted to follow in Norwich’s footsteps and design a cure.”</p><p>There was an abrupt stop like Chirrut wasn’t sure whether he should continue. But Jyn, whose memories were beginning to resurface, already suspected what he was holding back.</p><p>“Say it,” she told him.</p><p>With a somber tone, he complied.</p><p>“Twenty years ago, your father was one of them. He was very bright. Enough to draw the Empire’s attention.”</p><p>Jyn shuddered at the name. The Empire. The people who took her parents from her. The people who made her hate vampires.</p><p>The Empire was one of the biggest and most influential organization of revenants in the world. Older than the Alliance and far less philanthropic. Though recent decades had seen them trying to appear more benevolent and peaceful, she knew it was an act. They had no qualms about killing people to feed.</p><p>Jyn wished nothing more than to eradicate them, but even Saw had failed at that. They had their people, high up in the government, they had their own little kingdom and they were damn near untouchable. If she ever met one of them, she would gladly kill them, but the Empire didn’t roam the streets, looking for victims. They didn’t have to. They had feeding clubs and a steady supply of human thralls from god knows where.</p><p>And twenty years ago, they took her father. Presumably to force him to work for them. Jyn remembered that night in bits and pieces: the man in white who had come for them, her mother telling her to hide, her father pleading with them to leave his family out of it. Some of their conversation floated back to her.</p><p>
  <em>… beyond your imagination… the perfect species… powerful… if you come with me…</em>
</p><p>The perfect species. Her blood ran cold.</p><p>“Do you think it’s possible someone’s experimenting with vampires on purpose?” she gasped.</p><p>Before either of them could answer, Maia ran into the room without knocking. She was out of breath and frantic.</p><p>“<em>Jyn.</em> There was another kill.”</p>
<hr/><p>The murder happened in Millwall, near the docks. Lady Mothma had made sure the officers assigned to the case were aware of the situation and let her and her people in to take a look at the scene. It was the same as the rest; carnage. Cobblestones stained with the victim’s blood, the smell of death in the air. In the middle of it all, a severed head with a withering rose in its mouth.</p><p>No answers for that either.</p><p>Jyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she turned to Reece and Han who had been patrolling the area when they found the body.</p><p>“Did you see anything?”</p><p>“Besides the mangled body?” Han asked.</p><p>Jyn gave him a dirty look; she wasn’t in the mood for this. Thankfully, he took the hint.</p><p>“Nah,” he said, quieter. Remorseful. “Didn’t even hear anything and we were only a few blocks away.”</p><p>She glanced around again, her eyes lingering on the arm a few feet away from the head.</p><p>“So it kills the victims before it tears them apart,” she concluded. It wasn’t a clean kill. If the victim was alive, there would have been noise.</p><p>“Or he compels them to stay quiet,” Reece suggested. His tone was nasty in a way it always was when he spoke to her. Like he knew better.</p><p>Jyn didn’t bother hiding her scowl. Reece Tallent was a prick. He’d hated her since she beat him sparring once, and he was one of the biggest protestors against her leading the Partisans. She had no doubt he would like the position himself if he had the chance.</p><p>“He?” She raised an eyebrow. It was a common assumption that the Beast was a man. Jyn didn’t like to assume. “Do you know something I don’t?”</p><p>Silence. Reece seemed particularly resentful but she didn’t give a shit. Turning away, she examined the scene again, trying to find something she hadn’t noticed before.</p><p>“It’s only a little after nine,” she sighed. “It’s getting braver.”</p><p>“<em>He</em> probably realized we have no fucking clue how to catch him,” Reece supplied. Her back to him, Jyn rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Well, I’m not letting this happen again. I’m doubling the shifts at night.”</p><p>A cruel laugh from behind. Reece sounded doubtful.</p><p>“Yeah, how? We don’t have the manpower for that.”</p><p><em>I’ll ask the fucking Alliance if I have to, </em>Jyn thought but didn’t say. Reece and many of the others would never accept that. They’d burn her at the stake just for thinking it; that was why she kept her partnership with Andor a secret.</p><p>But perhaps it wasn’t a terrible idea. The thought of those blue-blooded aristocrats patrolling the streets looking for the Beast seemed more than a little comical, but if any of the revenants were willing to do it, she’d take the help.</p><p>As if on cue, her eyes caught something at the end of the street, hiding in a dark corner.</p><p>She squinted. Vampires had the natural ability to blend into the shadows more than a human could. Almost like they became part of the darkness themselves. Fortunately, Jyn had been trained to notice these things and – yes, that was definitely a revenant hiding in the shadows.</p><p>The red eyes gave him away.</p><p>“Clear out the scene,” she said, her gaze lingering on the figure.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I said go,” she snapped, wheeling back around. She had no patience for either of them today; Han with his sarcasm or Reece with his nasty comments. A person died. A man who had a wife and kids. She was trying to do her damn job.</p><p>Han, like he could sense that she was on the brink of exploding, turned to Reece.</p><p>“Let’s go.”</p><p>With one last suspicious look, Reece obeyed. Jyn waited until she could no longer see either of them anymore, satisfied that Han, despite all his faults, would not let Reece spy on her. Then she turned back and called out to Cassian.</p><p>“You can come out now.”</p><p>As he stepped into the light, Jyn admired, for a second, the way the shadows fell away from his body like it had been a second skin he shed. Everything about vampires was designed to hunt, to kill.</p><p>What was it that drove him to do the opposite?</p><p>There was no time to dwell on what happened last night. Sparing a short glance at the officers who still lingered in the background, Jyn stepped forward to talk more intimately.</p><p>The kill hadn’t happened long ago. They had an opportunity here.</p><p>“The Beast,” she began without greeting. “Can you pick up its scent?”</p><p>“Maybe.” He frowned as his eyes darted around the scene. “The victim’s blood is overwhelming but…”</p><p>He closed his eyes, his entire body tense as he concentrated. Jyn bit her lip to keep from rushing him. <em>Come on. You can do it. Come on.</em></p><p>Finally, he let out a breath and nodded.</p><p>“Okay. I think I have it.”</p><p>He opened his eyes and waved a hand to move her along as he began walking.</p><p>“Come on. Let’s follow it.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for everyone who supports this story, you guys keep me going &lt;3</p><p>Find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Like Attracts Like</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Leia gives advice and Cassian shares something intimate with Jyn.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Brought to you a day early by my impatience. Also because I disappeared for two weeks, whoops.</p><p>Alright guys, prepare for Cassian depression hours. Just as a reminder, last we left off, the Beast killed someone but Cassian picked up on its scent and they were about to go follow it. Enjoy &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassian led the march down poorly lit back alleys, pausing at each corner and sniffing the air for the smell of dead roses to determine which direction the Beast had gone. Erso was right behind him, thankfully silent, though he could feel her sharp eyes on him, never missing a moment.</p><p>His heart would be racing right now if it could still beat. They had never been this close to the Beast before, and if he could just lead the way to find it –</p><p>This nightmare would be over. He could rest knowing he’d done something good. It wouldn’t redeem him, but the knowledge that he had helped would be enough.</p><p>The thought pushed him forward, oblivious to everything else around him. He had to do this. The need to prove himself burned in his chest. He hadn’t prayed since his transformation but now he sent out a small plea to any deity that might be listening. <em>Let it be over, let this be the end, please.</em></p><p>He should have known no god would be listening to <em>him.</em></p><p>Finally emerging from the back streets, the sight of water greeted them, and his stomach dropped. Cassian saw the scent disappearing into the Thames and knew they had lost it. He could not follow it beyond this point, the water would have    washed it away.</p><p>Slowly, he walked up to the edge of the bank and watched the dark currents carry away any hope he’d had of ending this tonight. Another dead end. Closing his eyes in defeat, he resisted the urge to scream. Erso had said nothing yet, but he didn’t have to look at her to know she understood. He could practically feel the disappointment rolling off of her in waves.</p><p>“They swam?” she asked quietly, more a statement than a question.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“They know we’re onto them.”</p><p>Reluctant, Cassian made himself turn around and face her. He would have rather taken the coward’s way out and slunk into the shadows, but he deserved to face her anger after their confrontation last night. He had yelled at her, accused of her not being <em>there </em>when he was killed, and now he had failed as well. Failed the victim and his family, the city, the Organas, himself, and – her too.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>Erso looked too stunned to answer right away. But she surprised him by stepping forward and gripping his arm, her hand warm even through the material of his coat. Maybe she saw something in his eyes that felt familiar. Maybe she felt the same grief and remorse he felt. Maybe she knew what it was like to hate yourself so much. <em>Like attracts like.</em></p><p>“It’s not your fault.”</p><p>She let go of his arm and Cassian shuddered at the loss of it. When was the last time he felt such warmth?</p><p>“I think we’re done for today,” he said quietly, too afraid of the vulnerability he felt around her.</p><p>Here, in this bubble between them, it would have been all too easy to say or do something he knew he’d regret once common sense returned to him. To let your guard down, to let someone see you, it was dangerous. What would he gain from confessing his sins to a vampire hunter?</p><p>Jyn nodded, the first to break their gaze. She turned away and Cassian took it as the dismissal it was. Forget her warmth, forget her soulful green eyes. He had to keep his end goal in sight. This path he’d chosen, he walked it alone.</p>
<hr/><p>The night was young and he had no desire to go back to his sad little flat just yet. Instead, he wandered the streets alone, huddled in his thick coat, head hanging low, a solitary figure no one paid much attention to. It began to drizzle but he didn’t mind – he couldn’t catch a cold and it suited his sour, self-pitying mood. What was even better, the cold water pushed out the memory of Erso’s warm hand.</p><p>He roamed for hours on end with no destination in mind before he found himself standing at his sister’s grave. He had no recollection of coming here but his subconscious must have been trying to tell him something. The words inscribed into the wooden cross seemed to taunt him:</p><p>LIDIA REID</p><p>1895–1920</p><p>He couldn’t even afford a headstone. All she was reduced to was a couple of numbers and a name. A name that wasn’t even her own. He’d wanted to put Andor on her grave – she would have wanted that – but she hadn’t legally changed her last name after her divorce. It would have cost more money than they could spare. Now she would be forever stuck with the last name of a man who had never deserved her.</p><p>For a wild moment, Cassian thought he would throw up. Could that even happen? Would he vomit blood onto the wet ground, right above where his sister was resting?</p><p>But he closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, and his nausea passed. The remorse, however, did not.</p><p>He should have brought flowers. He hadn’t planned to come visit, but she deserved them. Lidia had always adored flowers. He remembered how she would spend hours outside in her garden, back when she was married and she <em>had</em> a garden. Her hands and skirt would be black with earth when she came back inside, a speck of dirt on her cheek, and she would laugh when someone pointed it out and wipe it away with her own fingers.</p><p>When she moved back with him, she gave up that garden too. All they had in this world was each other. Now… nothing.</p><p>Cassian sighed, a bittersweet smile on his face.</p><p>“I miss you, Lidia.”</p><p>She would be so ashamed if she saw him now. His parents as well. To see the killer he’d become.</p><p>When Papa passed away, Mama had told him that they would see each other again someday in Heaven. But if that was true, he was surely headed in a different direction after his death.</p><p>Cassian couldn’t blame that solely on his second life. He’d been hell-bound for a long time now.</p><p>He turned away, unable to stand the sight of that cross anymore. His eyes, however, lingered on the church that stood next to the graveyard, and he wondered. There was no repenting for the things he’d done but could he still find peace in his faith?</p><p>Making his way out of the graveyard, into the street, he paused in front of the grand entrance to the church. The door was slightly ajar, a warm orange glow filtering through the crack. Like some kind of heavenly light. But the thought of walking inside was paralyzing.</p><p>His ears picked up on something else. A flutter of fabric, soft footsteps on concrete. He didn’t have to look to know who it was.</p><p>“Are you going inside?” Leia asked from behind.</p><p>“I don’t think so, no.”</p><p>He turned to see her sitting down on a bench instead, silently motioning him to follow suit.</p><p>“You know you won’t burst into flames just by stepping inside a church.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“Good. Just making sure.” A pause. “I heard about the latest victim.”</p><p>His stomach dropped at the reminder. If he didn’t know better, he would think she was here to pry for information. But he was certain she already knew everything there was to know (which was admittedly not much.) So had she come to console him? Offer moral support? He didn’t deserve such kindness.</p><p>“The Beast got away.”</p><p>“It’s a smart creature.”</p><p>He hummed, keeping his eyes ahead even as he felt her giving him a long look. She could probably tell that he did not wish to discuss the Beast right now. Mercifully, she switched topics.</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want to move in with us?”</p><p>Cassian groaned. Unbothered, Leia went on.</p><p>“Well, have you found a new flat then? You can’t live on the streets.”</p><p>It was true, he hadn’t found new accommodations yet. To be honest, he was hoping he wouldn’t have to. If they found the Beast in time and if Erso kept her promise, all this hassle could be avoided. There was no point for him to be moving anywhere if he was dead.</p><p>But he couldn’t share all that with Leia. So he said, “I’ll manage.”</p><p>She seemed skeptical but didn’t comment. After a longer pause, she turned to him again and gently said, “You know, you have to let somebody care for you sometime.”</p><p>“Do I?”</p><p>The disapproving look she sent him almost made him smile.</p><p>“If not me, then maybe Erso.”</p><p>He did turn to face her at that, an incredulous noise on his lips.</p><p>“Why would I –”</p><p>He faltered as Leia raised her eyebrows, almost challenging him to continue. Oh no. He would not fall into that trap. She was very clever and very devious, but there was no chance he was discussing this with – <em>anyone</em>.</p><p>“You’re wrong,” he told her instead. Although that in itself was an admission of sort.</p><p>What she must think of him – tangled up with a <em>hunter.</em></p><p>But if he expected her to gloat, he would be surprised when her amusement morphed into something akin to concern. That look gave him pause, made him pay attention to the gentle warning she gave him.</p><p>“I understand the pull. To someone so <em>human</em>. We’re lonely creatures, I’m afraid. But be careful with her.” She stood up and gave him a meaningful look. “Vampires mate for life.”</p>
<hr/><p>He couldn’t quite look at Jyn the next time he saw her. Leia’s words rang in his head like alarm bells every time their eyes met. <em>Don’t get too attached. Don’t start thinking you know her. Don’t start thinking she could know you. This is a business relationship.</em></p><p>(But it had been so personal from the start. Erso’s aversion, his resentment, the little deal they made. They had been anything but professional.)</p><p>That night, he made no effort to talk to her as they patrolled the streets. Nothing but a night watch keeping vigil over the city as many others of his kind did the same. Erso surprised them all with her request for Alliance personnel in helping them keep the citizens safe after dark, but Lady Mothma was more than happy to comply. Whatever it took to catch the Beast.</p><p>Cassian’s shift with Jyn was around the area where the last victim had been found from the early hours of the morning to dawn. Despite their silence, he was surprised by how comfortable he felt in her presence. The easy routine between them had almost morphed into camaraderie, and he wondered if she felt it too or if it was all in his head. Was he that desperate for companionship?</p><p>It was almost five by the time they were ready to head back. The city was slowly waking up, and the sun would soon rise as well. They hadn’t come across trouble – which was good in the sense that no one died, bad in the sense that the Beast was still on the loose. Another night gone by without answers.</p><p>By some cruel twist of fate, they ended up at the same place where he lost the Beast’s scene last night. The sight of the bank made his stomach turn. Jyn, realizing the same thing, stopped and gestured to the street they’d come from.</p><p>“We should probably head back. It’ll be morning soon.”</p><p>But Cassian stood still, eyes on the water. It was still dark enough that he didn’t need to worry yet, but she was right that he would have to retreat back to the safety of his home soon. Or perhaps she just wanted to avoid an awkward confrontation and she didn’t care about his potential demise at all.</p><p>Either way, he didn’t listen. His mind was racing, confused, conflicted.</p><p>
  <em>Be careful with her. Don’t get too attached. It’s dangerous to be seen.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I can’t have absolution. I can’t repent. But maybe I can be heard.</em>
</p><p>He reached inside his coat to take out the locket sitting against his undead heart, mindlessly twirling it in his hand.</p><p>“Have you ever killed someone?” He didn’t turn around but he could almost hear Jyn raising her eyebrows in disbelief. “I mean a person. Not… one of us.”</p><p>“No,” she admitted after a brief pause.</p><p>“I have. I was just as mindless as any common ghoul then. The only thing that mattered was the blood, no matter whose it was.”</p><p>He paused, waiting for Jyn’s reaction. He could hear the confusion but also the curiosity in her voice when she spoke.</p><p>“What is this about, Cassian?”</p><p>His hand stilled at the sound of his name. How had they come from <em>Andor </em>to <em>Cassian? </em>To gripping his arm, to <em>it’s not your fault?</em></p><p>He turned to face her, the locket concealed in his fist.</p><p>“Have you ever met a newborn before me?”</p><p>She shook her head mutely.</p><p>“I’m sure you know. They say no one restrains themselves the first time they feed.”</p><p>He let a tiny humorless laugh. Was that an excuse?</p><p>Was that an excuse for murdering one’s own sister?</p><p>He didn’t remember how it had happened. Didn’t remember the look on her face as she realized her brother had betrayed her. Didn’t remember the fear in her eyes.</p><p>All he could remember was waking up with the certainty that he was somehow <em>changed, </em>and the terrible hunger in him that demanded satisfaction. He remembered heading home. What else could he do? But when he arrived there… he could only see a silhouette of a person. The white noise in his head drowned out everything but the sound of a steady inviting heartbeat. Then… all went dark as the taste of warm blood overwhelmed his senses.</p><p>When he came to himself and saw what he’d done… He’d tried to breathe life back into her, just like he’d learned during the war. Thirty compressions, two rescue breaths. Rinse, repeat. But nothing had worked. She was gone.</p><p>He’d finally cradled her to his chest, leaving bloody fingerprints on her cheek and sobbing into her hair. He didn’t even deserve to be touching her but he had no idea how long he sat there, rocking back and forth, the taste of human blood still on his lips.</p><p>When the sun came up and he felt himself burning, he acted on instinct. He flung himself against the wall in a darkened corner faster than he imagined it was possible, then carefully crept towards the window to draw in the blinds. Shrouded in darkness, he slid to the floor and didn’t move.</p><p>That was how Kay found him, worried when he heard that he’d never shown up to work. He called Leia when he realized what was happening, and Cassian remembered falling to his knees, begging her, “Kill me.”</p><p>She kneeled next to him and put a hand on his chin. “We won’t. We’re going to help you, Cassian.”</p><p>And they did – they accommodated him, taught him everything there was to teach, helped him fit in. He slowly learned how to live as a vampire. But Cassian thought a part of him was still trapped inside the memory of that night.</p><p>When he opened his eyes, the look on Jyn’s face was hard to interpret. She was not pitying, not horrified, not disgusted, not angry. She was… was that understanding?</p><p>“So you see,” he began quietly. “I loathe myself more than you ever could.”</p><p>Jyn swallowed. He could hear that the breath she let out was shaky.</p><p>“That’s why you want to find the Beast. And that’s why you want me to kill you.”</p><p>“It won’t bring her back. But yes. I guess… it’s my way of absolution.”</p><p>He flipped open the locket, gazing at the familiar photograph that greeted him inside. It was of him and Lidia on her wedding day – a gift from her wealthier husband who could afford such luxuries. Cassian was standing behind her, a hand on her shoulder, Lidia in her wedding dress, and a bouquet of roses in her hands. His own face was much more serious than the bright smile she turned towards the camera, but he could see the ends of his mouth turning upwards. He had been so proud of her. It was a happy day.</p><p>Just another tainted memory now.</p><p>Jyn took a tentative step closer, gazing down at the locket.</p><p>“She was very beautiful.”</p><p>“She was the kindest person I knew.”</p><p>“Cassian…”</p><p>Jyn sounded like she had no idea what to say. It was alright – truthfully, he preferred her silence to meaningless placating words. But something in her tone changed, growing urgent when she looked around.</p><p>“The sun is coming up soon.”</p><p>He didn’t move. The more he stared, the more Lidia’s happy smile seemed to transform into a horrific scream. Her joyful eyes seemed to accuse him: <em>why?</em></p><p>“<em>Cassian.</em>”</p><p>Brought out of his stupor when Jyn grabbed his shoulder, he finally looked up. Her voice was forceful, almost like she’d called his name several times now.</p><p>“We’ll find it, okay? We’ll find the Beast. But you can’t quit on me now.”</p><p>He glanced at the sky. She was right – if they didn’t go, he would be ashes soon. But what surprised him was the fiery insistence in her voice, the anxiety in her eyes. Like she cared, or worse, she was worried. <em>You can’t quit on me now.</em></p><p>Well, they were in this together. Whether it was professional or personal, they were partners. He would not let her down.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was gearing up to this reveal for a while now and I'm not quite satisfied but uhm. It is what it is. We're nearing the midpoint of the story, which is very exciting. I have a couple of more reveals in the next few chapters.</p><p>Thanks for reading as always &lt;3 Find me on <a href="https://andorerso.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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